Pierogies
Jennifer IserlohDuring grad school, when I wasn't busy studying or working my part-time job, I was all about entertaining. My favorite co-host was my cousin Frank, and he always had great ideas, including shortcuts to making complicated recipes without losing a lot of the taste or texture.

I'm sure that the experts from the famous Pierogies Plus, a 10-minute drive from my family's house, would swat me for not making the dough myself. But when I crave my favorite treat, I use wonton wrappers to make them, an idea my clever cousin Frank came up with.

In Pittsburgh, you grow up eating pierogies, those Eastern European dumplings that resemble a large, tender ravioli, minus the tomato sauce. Apparently, Pittsburghers eat 11 times the pierogies consumed in any other city in the U.S., and they even have an annual pierogi-eating contest.

When you taste them for the first time, you might be tempted to have your own eating contest. But to keep them waistline-friendly, I top the dumplings with homemade caramelized onions rather than loads of melted butter. The wonton wrappers are nearly fat-free, making them more delicate and a bit lighter, since the traditional dough has sour cream and quite a few egg yolks.


Get the Skinny Chef's Pierogi recipe.