Pigu

Sometimes I make a recipe that doesn't 100% work out for me, but it's because I did something wrong so, I still wanna share it with you guys, you know? I'm hoping you'll all have better luck. I'm thinking what went wrong for me here was my lack of a a pasta maker thingy to make the dough extra thin: and what's sad is I actually technically have one of those. It's my mom's, my grandma gave it to her as a wedding present and she's never used it, thusly it is mine (as many of my mom's wedding presents have become). I just don't like...have the space to use it right now. Anywhozzle, due to my assumed too thick dough I ended up not making nearly enough of these pigu, and had oodles of filling leftover (although I was able to finagle a use for the filling, waste not want not and all that).

My problems aside, let's talk about pigu.

Pigu is like an Italian dumpling sorta kinda thing? I dunno exactly how to describe it to you, but, it's traditionally made at Easter time. And it's Lent so, yeah. If you like pasta and you like Romano cheese, then you'll love these. These go perfectly with soup, too, just saying.

(Oh and you know what I'm doing right now? Cleaning. Why am I cleaning-aside from normal reasons? Because Hayley is arriving tonight, and it's going to be so. much. FUN!)

Pigu

From Brown Eyed Baker's Pigu (Italian Gougeres)

Makes approx. 25

Ingredients:

Dough

• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp. cold water
• 1 tsp. vegetable/canola oil
• 1 cup flour, plus more if needed

Filling

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 12 oz. grated Romano
• Ground black pepper, to taste

Egg Wash

• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp. water

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper or a silpat or lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.
• In a large bowl measure out the flour and form a well in the center. Add the eggs, water, and oil into the well and combine with a fork. Slowly, a little at a time, add flour into the center. Once it has come together, knead by hand to form a soft, smooth, elastic dough. If needed add a little more flour or water to reach this consistency. Cover and set aside.
• In a medium bowl thoroughly combine the filling ingredients: egg, cheese, and pepper.
• Roll out the dough as you would pasta dough (I had trouble doing this with just a rolling pin, you may need a pasta roller)-about 1/8" thick.
• Place 1 tbsp. of the filling 2 inches apart across the bottom half of the rolled dough. Fold the top half over the bottom half, covering the filling. Press around each mound of filling to release air.
• Cut into squares with a knife or pasta cutter. If using knife you may need to seal edges with a fork.
• Place pigu on baking sheet(s). 
• Use a fork to beat the egg and water together for the egg wash. Brush over the tops of the pigu.
• Bake 10-15 minutes, until lightly golden.