Recipe - Cottage Cheese Vareniki

2 cup Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
1 pound Cottage cheese (may use
lowfat)
1 Egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup Milk
Melted butter
Bread crumbs, browned in
butter
Sour cream (optional)
Fried bacon, crumbled
(optional)
COTTAGECHEESE FILLING:
1 pound Dry cottage cheese
1 Egg, lightly beaten
Salt

Source: The Good Cook Pasta, 1980 (Traditional Ukrainian Cookery) Serves:
6

NOODLES:

Dough: First mix flour with the salt. Combine the egg, milk and cottage
cheese in blender. Stir combination into the flour and salt and knead to
make a soft dough. Cover and let the dough stand for 10 minutes.

Filling: In a bowl, combine the cottage cheese with the egg, and season to
taste with salt. The filling should be thick enough to hold its shape in a
spoon.

Roll the dough quite thin on a floured board. Cut rounds with a large
biscuit cutter or with the rim of a glass. For speedier work, the dough may
be cut into 2 2 One half inch squares. Put a round or square of dough on the
palm of your hand. Place a spoonful of the cheese filling on the dough,
fold it over to form a half circle or triangle, and press the edges
together with your fingers. The edges should be free of filling. Be sure
that the edges are sealed well to prevent the filling from running out.
Place the vareniki on a floured board or a kitchen towel (don't crowd
them), and cover with a kitchen towel to prevent drying.

Drop a few vareniki at a time into a large quantity of rapidly boiling
salted (optional) water. Do not attempt to cook too many at a time.

Stir very gently with a wooden spoon to separate the vareniki and to
prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Continue boiling for 3
4 minutes. Vareniki are ready when they are well puffed. Remove them to a
colander and drain thoroughly. Place in a deep dish, sprinkle generously
with melted butter, and toss very gently to coat them evenly with butter.
Serve in a large dish without piling or crowding them. Top with bread
crumbs. The traditional accompaniment is sour cream or crumbled bacon, or
both.

An additional egg or egg yolk, or some thick sour cream, may be used in the
filling if the cottage cheese is very dry.

Joyce Monschein

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini