My dinner menu - a tribute to streechas

I need to submit my dinner menu for the semi-finals of Master Chef NYU by tomorrow at noon. For much of today (basically from 6pm till now, midnight) I've been working on my menu. I'm pretty happy that I spent this time because had I blindly written the menu I can assure you it would have sucked. The theme of the dinner is an early dinner at Streecha's. Streecha's is a Ukrainian eatery which is located near my apartment and is only open Friday through Sunday. I've blogged about it before, but in short it is the best place in Manhatten for fresh pierogi and borscht. So, my menu is exactly that, homemade pierogis and borscht, plus a little desert offering made from the same dough as the pierogis. The dishes are not made to be complex or original, but rather it is my attempt at authenticity -- the simple and enjoyable meal which has been enjoyed for generations before us. In my original plan I also included stuffed cabbage in the mix, but after making a batch I decided it would not work properly in the allotted time. I also tried to make it with brown rice, which I'm pretty sure is a horrible idea.
Pierogi's or Vareniki as they are known in Ukrainian are dough stuffed with potato and onions and boiled. They may also be made stuffed with sauerkraut or just cooked cabbage, or even desert like fillings of cheese and fruit. In my case I decided to go simply with the potato and onion filling, and then to prepare a caramelized onion sauce (really just onions and a little butter cooked until golden) to go on top. My basic dough and filling recipe came from this random web search result (http://home.comcast.net/~dyrgcmn/Pierogi/pierogi.html). To make the dough sift 2.5 cups of flour (a mix of wheat and white would be good) and then add in two tablespoons of sour cream, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon salt and half a cup water. Work this until it sticks into a ball and then put aside for 30 minutes. To make the filling peel chop and boil a few russet potatoes. Meanwhile take a large yellow onion and dice it and then saute it for a while with some butter and oil. Be sure to add a fair amount of salt and pepper too. When the potatoes are done, drain fully and then mash in with the onion to form the filling. To assemble the pierogis roll the dough as thin as possible. Then cut circles the size of a top of a cup. Roll these circles until as thin as possible and fill with a spoonful of filling and wet half of the circumference. Fold one side to the other and make sure not to let any of the filling get onto the seal. These should go into already boiling water for about 10 minutes. When done plate and cover with an ample amount of some more golden onion sauce.
While the pierogis came out pretty well in my first attempt, the borscht needed a lot of work. This is a cabbage and tomato based borscht (no beets). Heat some oil in a deep soup pot and in another pot heat some bouillon to add later. Into the oil goes a significant amount of onion, carrot, celery and potato all very thinly sliced. At this point a bay leave or two would be good as well. Cook this until tender then add in a good portion of very thinly sliced and diced cabbage. Cook this with some salt until it has lost some of its water then add in the bouillon. Also at this point add in some celery salt and a bouquet of herbs including thyme, rosemary, oregano and dill stems. You can also add in a little more cabbage at this point. After a few more minutes add a large can of tomato puree and with only a few minutes before serving, add the juice of one lemon, some brown sugar, and enough balsamic and red wine vinegar to give the borscht a nice tang. Serve in a large bowl and top with ample diced dill.
The final aspect to my meal is a dessert similar in some ways to to rugelach. Use the same dough as for the pierogis and roll a very thin strip about 6 inches wide and 4 inches deep. Make a line of cast iron roasted walnut chunks (crushed pretty well) and raisins and brown sugar and red apple bits. Then roll this up and use a little water to seal the seam. In a cast iron pan lightly pan fry this until both sides are golden in color. Serve warm.
Well, I must admit I have mixed feeling about this menu. It may go over well as authentic and quality flavors, but it may just as well flop for being kind of bland and unimaginative. I'll update on which of these outcomes occurs Friday evening (the contest is from 1pm-4pm this week).

Perogi's at Streecha

I'm now going to do what so many New Yorker food bloggists (and the NY Times) have done before me and praise the little know Perogi cafeteria by the name of Streecha. I first heard of this when my roommate from two years ago read about it, just weeks after moving from NY back to Boston. I was very excited and planned to go... but nothing materialized until today, my office mate and I decided to check it out. The place (on 7th street, between 2nd and 3rd, in the downstairs of a building) resembles a small cafeteria you would see in a religious center (probably because that is what it is). The food is awesome. Perogi's (potato dumplings) go for .50$ each, and stuff cabbage is 2$. They also have desert (apple cake) and borscht. Its only open fri-sun, and the money goes to the Ukranian Church near by. I'm definitely going to be going there again. My one reservation was that the onion mixture which came on the Perogi's was a little too heavy with the butter and oil. I might, next time, ask for just the Perogi's.