Piroshki (A Savoury, Filled Pastry)

evelyn/athens's Note:

Make these for your next party as an appetizer. Piroshki are a very popular pastry here in Greece, probably brought over with the return of the Greeks from 'Pontos', now a part of Russia. Here, they are traditionally fried, but I find them much too rich (although very good) that way. This version is baked, and does not suffer any (just less calories) for it. I have given 3 different filling recipes. One for meat, one potato, and one mushroom. They are all great and each recipe will yield enough filling for 20-22 pastries. The prep time approximate - the pastry does need two hours to 'rest'.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 20 pastries

Pastry

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 -6 tablespoons ice water
• 1 egg yolk (for egg wash for pastry)

Meat Filling

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3/4 lb ground beef
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, minced
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh dill (or 1 1/2 tsp dried dill weed)
• salt and pepper
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons water

Potato and Cheese Filling

• 2 medium onions, minced
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 lb potato
• 1 cup grated graviera cheese (you can sub gouda or cheddar)
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper

Mushroom Filling

• 1 lb mushroom, minced
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 2 shallots or 2 green onions, minced
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• salt and pepper
• 1 pinch of grated nutmeg
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened (or 1 medium-sized potato, cooked and mashed)
• 1 egg

Directions:

1. For pastry: Cut butter into pieces.
2. Combine flour, butter, and salt using a knife or pastry blender.
3. Sprinkle with 4 tablespoons ice water.
4. Form into ball as you would pie dough.
5. May need to add remaining 2 tablespoons water.
6. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
7. Place pastry dough on floured board; roll out into rectangle.
8. Fold over into thirds.
9. Roll out again into rectangle.
10. Continue rolling and folding five times.
11. Rewrap in plastic; return to refrigerator for 1 hour.
12. Preheat oven to 400°F.
13. Grease baking sheet.
14. Roll dough out to 1/8-inch thickness.
15. Cut dough using 3 ½-inch round cutter.
16. Place about 1 tablespoon of filling on each pastry circle.
17. Fold dough over making half moons; press together edges together using ice water to seal.
18. Place pies on baking sheet.
19. Whisk together egg yolk and 2 tblsps water; brush pies with egg wash.
20. Bake about 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.
21. For Meat Filling: sauté onion in 2 tablespoons butter until soft.
22. Add ground beef and sear until light gravy forms.
23. Let cool.
24. Mix in egg, dill, salt and pepper.
25. For Potato Filling: Fry the onions in the butter until soft and golden-brown.
26. Boil the potatoes in their jackets, then peel and mash them.
27. Let cool slightly.
28. Season with plenty of salt and pepper and mix in the onions and egg.
29. For Mushroom Filling: In a pan or skillet, saute the mushrooms, onion, and shallots in the butter until the onion is translucent.
30. Add the lemon juice, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
31. Continue to cook, stirring until nearly all the moisture is evaporated.
32. Cool mixture slightly and mix in cream cheese or mashed potato.
33. I like to sprinkle poppy seeds over the egg washed pastries filled with the mushroom filling.
34. Note: these pastries are very good made with phyllo pastry, too.

Reviews

[Rainman]

Very nice. Just take a serious shortcut and use puff pastry.

[Aussie-Mary]

Ok, I'm not sure how to rate this as I changed some of the ingredients. For example, for the mushroom ones I added fresh parsley, basil and garlic. Either way they were delicious.

[puppitypup]

Evelyn, these are delicious! I couldn't decide which filling to make so I made both mushroom and beef, then decided to combine the two fillings before filling the pastries. I added a bit of paprika too the filling as well and used puff pastry sheets rather than making the pastry dough from scratch. Made for ZWT, please see my rating system as I rate tougher than most.