Movie Night and Dinner Too!: Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Since our last posting, Halloween has come and gone, but naturally it was time for some scary/gory/thrilling movies!

"When there's no more room in Hell, the Dead will walk the Earth."

Eric suggested Dawn of the Dead and I am glad we watched it, especially for the special effects. The scenes where people are bitten into were really well done for the time and looked pretty real (minus the blood that looked a whole lot like red paint). Also, it's directed by George A. Romero, (his first sequel to Night of the Living Dead) AND it's filmed in Pennsylvania (more on this later).

Fun fact: Night of the Living Dead was filmed in black-and-white so Romero chose to paint the "things" in this full-color movie gray. Personally, I think it failed because they looked blue and would have been scarier if they weren't so drastically different looking from normal people.

I couldn't stop comparing the no-name actors to their celebrity dopplegangers either: The three main actors looked like B. J. Novak, Lawrence Fishburne, and James Van Der Beek to me!

(movie still found here)

Movie Review

Plot: 2.25

Cinematography: 3.25

Acting: 1.5

Average: 2.33

On to the food...

As I mentioned, the movie is set (and filmed) in Pennsylvania. The group flees Philadelphia and heads toward Pittsburgh via helicopter hoping to find safety. One of the most popular regional dishes in Pittsburgh (and much of Pennsylvania) is pierogies, so we made them from scratch! Not too shabby either--I'd say they were better than Mrs. T's, which surprised me since I seem to rarely have success with this type of labor-intensive dish. I'd suggest doubling or even tripling the pasta recipe if you have the time to make a lot of pierogies since they freeze well. We got four servings out of this batch and had an abundance of mashed potato filling left over. It was good for lunch, but would have been better tucked inside these little beauts.

Homemade Pittsburgh Pierogies with Sour Cream

INGREDIENTS

2 cups flour, plus extra for kneading and rolling dough

1/2 tsp salt

1 large egg, beaten

1/2 cup sour cream, plus extra for serving

1/4 cup butter, softened and cut into small pieces

5 large red potatoes

2 large onions

6 TB butter, divided, for sautéing

4-8oz. grated cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

Pierogie Dough

Mix together the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. With the mixer on low, add the beaten egg and then 1/2 cup sour cream and 1/4 cup of softened butter pieces. Mix until it comes together. (I had to scrape the sides down a few times and turn the mixer onto a higher setting to get it to form a doughy consistency.)

Potato, Cheese, and Onion Filling

Peel and boil the potatoes until soft. While the potatoes are boiling, finely chop 1 large onion and saute it in butter until soft and translucent. Mash the potatoes with the sautéed onions and the grated cheddar cheese, adding salt and pepper to taste. (We used the stand mixer and paddle attachment for this job.)

Preparing the Pierogies

Break the dough into small pieces and flatten to pass through a pasta roller. Roll to approx. 1/8" thick, then cut into circles about 3.5" in diameter. A drinking glass works well. Place a small ball of filling (less than 1 TB) on each dough round and fold the dough over, forming a semi-circle. Make sure the edges are pressed together well.

Boil the pierogies a few at a time in a large pot of boiling water. They are done when they float to the top, about 8-10 minutes. Rinse in cool water and let dry.

While the pierogies are boiling, sauté the remaining 1 sliced onion in butter in a large frying pan until soft.