Pear & Ricotta Peroghies
This morning, something came along completely out of the blue that crept up and whacked us behind the knees, shaking us all down to our foundations. It was one of those things you can’t imagine could just show up without warning while you’re sitting blithely at the dentist and everyone is going about their morning routines. But it does, and it totally trumps everything you had previously scheduled, even what was considered the important stuff.
And I can’t really share it here because it’s not my news to share with the world, and even though it affects us terribly I can’t really comment on much regarding our day, particularly the dinner situation, without giving it away. So I’ll just say that although everyone is (relatively) OK, we spent most of the day at the hospital and didn’t get home until close to 10.
Because hospital food is questionable at best, I ran home mid-afternoon and made a batch of brown and wild rice salad with dried fruit, parsley and pecans to bring back, along with some leftover roasted chicken. The two will likely be picked at over the weekend, here and there between home and hospital. We have a few barbecues to attend as well, so luckily we’ll be fed.
And when W and I got home (Mike is at Sled Island, not in hospital) I needed some form of warm carbohydrates, and so put a pot of water on to boil and rummaged through the freezer for a baggie of the peroghies Cheryl and I assembled awhile ago to boil up, then brown quickly in butter and eat by myself in bed with a book. (Or more likely, in front of my computer.) I didn’t look at the label because I didn’t much care which kind I got, but ended up with some stuffed with pear and ricotta – a combo I had forgotten she was inspired to make after I left. And yum. It’s a good thing I didn’t bother with the bacon. (Although come to think of it, bacon, pear and ricotta would be rather delicious.)
It was a welcome distraction from the events of the day, and made me ponder other sweet peroghy possibilities; strawberry-rhubarb, blueberry-maple-ricotta, roasted peach. Any would be fantastic crisped and browned in a buttery skillet and immediately laid over a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or topped with crème fraîche. (If I had to guess, I’d say these pears were finely chopped and sauteed in butter with a bit of sugar and cinnamon, then stirred into ricotta and used as a filling.)
Mostly what made me think of peroghies in the first place was the prize I found for Free Stuff Fridays. I picked up – yes I did – an original Peroghy Pogy, still in the package and with the old Woodward’s price tag. QUIK-N-EZEE! CERTAIN & SIMPLE! Even YOU can make dozens of peroghies from scratch for pennies apiece. Preferably at a long, floury countertop with people you love and a bottle of wine. Enjoy – life is too short to not savour every moment.
Speaking of unique ways with summer fruit, what are your favourite things to do with berries, rhubarb, stone fruits… anything sweet and juicy that says summer?
One Year Ago: Croque Monsieur (aka Mr. Crunch)
Sorry to hear about the bad news. Hope everything is well.
This may be a tad boring, but I love to just cook summer fruits down with minimal sugar until they’re a sort of compote and eat them with rich, plain yogurt.
I’m planning to make a big batch of peroghies to carry me through the winter, so this would be perfect!
Hope everyone is well soon. Days like that remind us how much we love our family and friends.
Summer fruits – I like in crisps, pies, and jams.
Then there is this OLD raspberry recipe using jello, graham crumbs and marshmallows… (circa 1966)
I shouldn’t eat any of it – since I am diabetic.
I don’t need the perogy pogy – I have one already, probably also bought at Woodward’s.(a western Canadian department store chain that went under 20 or so years ago- before Eatons.
Oh Julie, sorry to hear you’ve had some bad news. I hope everyone is well soon.
I love fruit crisp. My family things apple is the only kind worth eating but my favourite would be peach & blueberry. When my husband makes crsip he doubles the topping and likes to smash up a skor bar to sprinkle on top before baking. Its amazing.
you are totally amazing….even with such a day you manage to come up with home made food and a blog!
take care of YOU!
su 🙂
Aw, I hope the weekend goes a little better for you. Poor/lucky Mike at Sled Island. You can always drop of W here to help us lay sod and work on our fence if you need to. Power tools are involved.
Most summer fruit I just like to eat out of hand. Of course, that could include fruit in hand pie format or as jam on my toast.
PS You guessed right on how they were made. Remember that it was the pear that Smilosaurus wouldn’t eat?
I hope everything turns out for the best, Julie.
A Peroghy Pogy!! Oh my goodness. I remember those commercials! Wow. Donna, did Woodwards go under 20 years ago?! Man, it doesn’t seem that long ago.
SO far this summer I’ve made peach pie and apricot crisp. I’ve got some blackberries in the freezer that I think I’m going to make a crisp out of as well. There are also plans to make some strawberry shortcakes and then strawberry and balsmic vinegar freezer jam.
So sorry to hear about this whatever-it-is. Kinda sounds like a rough spring, so far, what with the pot burns, roof expenditures, and dentist debacles.
I’m not generally a dessert fan, but there are times I have an intense craving for a blueberry pie, which I am convinced is my body’s way of telling me I need more antioxidants. Wine and pie, here I come.
In the summer, too, I generally buy whatever fruit is on sale, freeze it, and use it for breakfast smoothies–too hot for eggs in the morning.
Sorry bout the crappy day and hope it turns out okay.
I’ve never made perogies but have always wanted to. It has always seemed like so much work to me but, alas I have decided I’m going to do it! My husband LOVES the frozen store bought kind and would probably go wild for homemade! The fruit ones sound amazing.
So, my favorite thing to do with berries are making Jam, my Grandparents have a HUGE raspberry bush in their backyard so I go and pick as much as I can and make jam with these amazing raspberries. I’ve only ever done the freezer Jam but this year I think I’m going to try it the old fashioned way. I’m a little nervous about it but willing to try.
The other thing I love is to make pies. I’m an amateur baker but making a pie makes me feel like a professional! When I make pie crust I feel like a rock star … I know, silly but true! I love that my husband HATES pie but love my pies. He says my crust is the best he’s ever had and it’s the only pies he’ll eat. Even if it’s not the best out there, the fact that he thinks it is, is all that matters to me!
I hope everything is ok Julie – doesn’t sound like a fun day at all…..but does have an entertaining aspect to it……”just go home to whip up some food to take to the hospital”….haaa!
Since we moved to the Ukrainian belt, I tried my hand at making perogies from scratch this year. It is time consuming but quite simple. The only thing that gave me trouble at first was getting them a uniform size and the pinching part.
Summer fruit – I buy quite a lot and hit the U-pick places too, however we eat a bit of it and then freeze the rest in big ziplock bags for the winter. We make a lot of smoothies, and for crisps, etc. It tasts so good when it’s -40 and blizzarding out.
Oh Julie long afternoons at hospitals are never good. Sorry to hear you such a rough day. I hope everything turns out for the best.
Summer fruit? Aside from straight out of the container at the Farmer’s Market I like the Raspberry Yogurt Cake from epicurious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Raspberry-Yogurt-Cake-242698
Last time I made it I subbed lemon for orange juice/zest and it turned out beautifully. I also like the classic – angel food cupcakes with fresh fruit and whipped cream.
Wow! You even make an unwelcome hospital trip into an epicurean delight! Glad everyone is relatively well.
I love to mix up a mélange of summer fruit with plain yogurt for breakfast or lunch. The sweet burst of ripe fruit is heavenly with the tart acidic yogurt.
And then there are the other typical treats of fresh baked pie, shortcake (with biscuit shortcake not cake) with tons of fruit swimming in whipped cream, big fruit salads, a surprise in green salads, grilled fruit and out of hand eating. ALthough there is nothing ground moving about these combinations, I never tire of them. Summer fruit is the B E S T!
P. S. Please omit me from the Pogy drawing too!
I hope everything turns out well with the hospital situation. Good thinking on whipping up the rice salad, hospital food is gross, and I’m sure that made the whole experience at least a wee bit better.
As for the fruit ideas, I have none! I myself do not eat any type of fruit (the juicy-ness and smell and texture and everything just really gets me) but my mom makes this rhubarb pudding thing topped with a sort of granola-esque topping. Everyone else seems to just die for it.
I have never made perogies but I sure would like to try! I hope your weekend gets better Julie.
I hope everything gets better soon Jules. Let me know if there’s anything you need.
I usually prefer fresh summer fruit straight off the tree/plant/bush (we’ll be in Kelowna for peach season this year and I am so excited to eat those things out on the grass with juice dripping all over the place. mmmmmmm). I also love fresh fruit piled on waffles with mounds of whipped cream. Oh, and tonight I’m going to try a recipe for individual rhubarb pudding cakes that sound really yummy.
Sorry for the bad news, Julie. Hope it resolves well and quickly. You’ve certainly had your share of “stuff” happen to you and yours this season.
My new favorite for spring fruits is your Rhubarb-Strawberry Cobbler Cake (minus the strawberries this time, unfortunately)! I had no roofers to use as guinea pigs but it got rave reviews from The Yardman yesterday, making him a fan of a fruit he has always viewed with a cringing suspicion! The definite crunch of lovely sugar on top put it “over-the-top!” Can’t wait to try it with other combos. Question: Are perogies just doughier versions of gyoza? I had perogies in a Vegreville restaurant years ago that were greasy, doughy and almost tasteless but using your filling suggestions in gyoza skins I think, would be wonderful. Oh, and no need to enter me in the draw, thanks)
You have had what I’d definitely call a trying week – I hope things start looking up for you RIGHT NOW!
How lucky your family is to have you, though – I know I’ve eaten far, far too much of that greasy cafeteria food. I think they’re trying to drum up extra business for the cardiac unit, but I enjoy a good conspiracy theory.
As for summer fruit…I love the angel food and whipped cream combo, but I really just love it fresh and ripe out of the bowl. Unless it’s rhubarb from my garden, in which case, I’m all over pie.
Julie, so sorry to hear about the bad news…you’re definetly right, it catches you totally off guard and blind-sided. I hope everything works out for you and your family.
I have to say my favorite is making fruit pizza with cream cheese filling. All the freshes fruit berries I can find. Along with the Rhubarb is some good wholesome muffins with the brown sugar topping. MMMMMmmmm.
so sorry to hear about your bad news and hope and pray it all turns out well in the end. keep me out of the perogy pogy draw too please as the only time I tried to make peroghies they were more like stuffed hockey pucks.
thank you for blogging and thinking about FSF even in the midst of the stress of hospital visits.
as for fruits, I’m kinda partial to crisps.
Sorry about the end of your week, but think the beginning was great with the launch of your segment on good bites.
As for summer fruit best when eaten warm off the bush or tree.
At my work there is a Mulberry tree (think blackberries growing on a tree). At coffee break I walk down, pick and eat my fill and walk back in with purple stained hands. Nothing tastes better than that.
Sorry to hear of bad news! Never a good way to end a week. I enjoyed your Good Bites segment earlier in the week though! It’s a great format and you totally deserve to be on there!
My favourite way to enjoy summer fruit is straight up – often with graham crackers and a light cheese, maybe lemonade or a glass of white wine. If I’m going to ‘do something’ with my fruit it’s usually a crisp.
Hope all is well Julie!
Raspberries, just picked and warmly sweet – that’s my fav.
To keep some of that summer goodness, I make fruit pies in the fall – peach, pear, apple, saskatoon – and freeze them unbaked. A freshly baked fruit pie in the winter is divine. And this year, I was bakng a ‘mystery pie’ from the freezer (couldn’t decifer my labeling system – it made sense at the time!) and was surprised by a raspberry/pear combo….delish!
Also recently discovered via my daughter – a rhubarb/sour cream coffee cake!
I hope that the situation resloves itself quickly.
At my house we love all summer fruit, fresh, frozen, or cooked. I just bought 15 pounds of strawberries and made jam. We love pears, too, especially in clafouti.
Dear Julie,
Having spent my share of time in emerg’s with aging parents, I know the experience all too well. Sending my thoughts and wishes.
Kathryn
many moons ago i made perogies however i have NOT made them lately. i used to make them with cottage cheese and served with cream gravy. while i was growing up we had perogies with Rogers syrup. yes it tasted good!! my favorite perogies would be with raisins. so good!!! when we go to Sask. we buy the ones with strawberries and ones with Saskatoon berries. they taste good on their own. so if i won this perogy maker-i would be able to make them with raisins, strawberries, pears-no cheese, berries-Saskatoon, raspberries, blueberries.
Summer time berries i like best eating them fresh and raw. can’t beat that.
here’s praying all things work out good for you and yours. have a friend who died very suddenly this week which brought back memories of my sister-in-law who died very suddenly Nov/06. she was french-born in France and made great german food!! and was like a big sister to me. so i will keep you in my prayers!!
Hope everything’s OK.
I tend to eat all fruit straight from the container, especially in the summer. But on occasion, I love to grill some stone fuit – halved nectarines brushed with honey or rum. YUM!
We know only too well how these things can pop up and pray that your situation improves soon.
At least they remind us of what is really important, eh?
Just checked – Woodwards was bought out in 1993 –
16 year ago.
Dear Julie,
I am sending out positive thoughts (aka ‘prayers’, since I am not Catholic). I hope you are well and not too stressed. Take care of yourself.
Julie,
I’m thinking of you and empathizing with your situation. Take care.
My son would love he and I to make those homemade perogies, so here goes on my favorite ways to use summer fruits; fresh picked in a bowl with plain yogurt; or if I’m in the mood for a rich treat, it would most likely be pies. I have a couple of amazing raspberry pie recipes, but I too love to jumble together delicious combinations as they come into season. What a treat!!
OMG this dough is perfect. I made a batch last night, filed them with a mix of ricotta, apple, fennel, olive oil and another of goat cheese, rosemary, touch of basswood honey and they’re just beyond belief. thank you thank you!
Julie,
I am sorry to learn of your trying week. Hope everything turns out okay. I do love your foodie blog & posts. And I wuld really love a perogy maker.
My fav summer fruit receipe…. mmmhhh; too many to mention but the fruit common to all, Saskatoons!
This prob. stems from my youth/young adult days … memories of summer breakfasts of morning fresh picked berries from bushes at our cottgae. Gram had heaping bowls set out fopr us and she served them with real cream and baked scones. We’d sit out on the veranda overlooking the lake before spending our days on the water. Mandatory juice but also children’s tea when I was yougner and then pots of coffee as I grew older.
Spending my summer days with my grammie & grandfather, mum & dad, siblings & friends.
Yes, I love saskatoons! Saskatoon shortbread tarts (also die for my grammie vi’s lemon butter tartlets); saskatoon pies, saskatoon crisp, saskatoon jam.
I do think a pear, saskatoon, brie and ricotta cheeese perogies with a sprinkle of cin spice and a drizzle of chocolate might be amazing.
If only i had a perogy maker…
Do you think it is possible to make whole wheat perogy dough? >>>
Hope things will be looking brighter soon,
Our fave thing here with berries is a triple layer merangue cake with whippped cream and whatever fruit is on hand. So light you can convince yourself to have more than one piece!
Love the pergoy maker would certainly speed up the process.
Sorry you’re dealing with medical stuff. Hope all works out for those involved.
On the perogi front, my Ukrainian grandmother used to make strawberry and dry ricotta cheese perogies, blueberry, apple and even plum filled perogies. She often served them from the oven like blintzes with maple syrup and whipped cream or sour cream. Delish!
Just made some Ontario strawberry, balsamic and black pepper jam – to eat with goat’s or cream cheese..mmmmm Can’t wait for it to set up!! Kids decided to squish strawberries in their bare hands and make their own jam, which the dads did not get, but the other mom and I encouraged! My best summer berry memory is going out to our backyard raspberry bush with my dad (who died when I was 4) cereal bowls in hand, and plop the raspberries straight from the bush onto our cereal. Yum!!
Also made a strawberry, blueberry, rhubarb (from the yard!) and raspberry crisp the other night, assembled the topping ahead and then had a few glass of wine and forgot to add sugar to the fruit. No one noticed it was so sweet and yummy! I Love summer.
i dry a couple of big boxes of cherries and then freeze them. that way i taste crimson all year long.
I’ve never been brave enough to try making my own perogies, even though everyone tells me they’re better than store-bought. A gadget like that makes it look fun!
My new favourite rhubarb dessert is a recipe for rhubarb squares that comes out of my Pillsbury baking book. You pre-bake a shortbread crust and then mix up some rhubarb, eggs, sugar, etc. and pour that over top. Then you make a crumble topping and bake it all in the oven. Yummy, yummy with ice cream!
My thoughts and best wishes are coming your way.
I love perogies but I have been limited to the “regular” kind. I am keen to try fruit filled ones. One of these days I’ll do something about that. I know someone else will get more use out of the gadget than I will. Please leave my number out of the draw.
🙂
A summer fav for berries would be cobbler. Peaches are in a class by themselves. I like to split them & grill them on the BBQ with a little maple syrup brushed on then sprinkle with cinnamon and serve with ice cream of course. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the new people moving into the house across the street are as generous with their peach tree as the last neighbours!
Lots of love to you and your family, Julie. You’re in my thoughts and prayers.
Strawberries, sugar and cream are my fave this time of year, when we traditionally gather for our own Sunday ‘Breakfast at Wimbledon’ to watch the men’s championship match.
A Perogy Pogy? I have no idea what that is, but I love perogies and if I could easily make them at home I would. Putting fruit in them is an excellent idea.
We love to make sherbert out of our excess rhubarb, and it’s even better with black currants mixed in (but that’s a bit later in the season, probably in our third stripping of the rhubarb plant).
A new thing I started this year with rhubarb was stewing them with a bit of honey and adding plain yogurt and some lemon juice(my family likes tart things). We sometimes eat it like this for dessert or I freeze them into popsicles. It really is refreshing on a hot day.
Sorry to hear you’ve had an upset. I, too, head for the kitchen when this kind of thing strikes. Hope life returns to normal soon.
And since you ask about fruit, I love it as is, but ice cream is always an option. Homemade, of course.