Polish Gzik Is The Ultimate Way To Amp Up Cottage Cheese With Barely Any Ingredients

Every food trend is bound to run its course eventually, only to circle back around a decade later. But cottage cheese, which is still riding the wave of a formidable TikTok comeback, might be here to stay for the long run. Long pigeonholed as a relic of 1980s diet food, the tangy, creamy dairy product has proven itself to be an incredibly versatile ingredient that plays well in all kinds of unexpected dishes, from soups and sauced to bread and other baked goods. 

Today, we're here to talk about gzik, a simple yet flavorful Polish dip that's often spread on toast or spooned over potatoes. While cottage cheese isn't necessarily traditional in gzik, it makes a great substitution for twarog, the farmer's cheese that typically serves as the base of the dish. To make it at home, all you need is small-curd cottage cheese, radishes, chives, Greek yogurt or sour cream, and salt and pepper. 

As Kim Severson explains in her New York Times recipe for gzik, not all cottage cheese is created equal when used as a replacement for twarog. To get as close as possible to gzik's smooth texture, she recommends mashing up small-curd cottage cheese with a fork and adding a dollop of Greek yogurt or sour cream for extra creaminess. Once the base is ready, all that's left to do is add finely chopped radishes and chives, plus salt and pepper to taste. Some recipes call for chopped cucumber and fresh herbs as well. 

With such few ingredients, gzik might sound like a mild spread. On the contrary, the spiciness of the radishes and the onion-y flavor and aroma of the chives lend plenty of character to plain cottage cheese. And if you choose to add yogurt or sour cream, you'll get the added bonus of extra tang. 

It's worth it to whip up a quick bowl of gzik even if you're just making breakfast for yourself. You don't need a whole lot of its respective ingredients to make enough for a single serving, so it's a great way to make the most of that awkwardly small amount of cottage cheese left in the tub.

Buttered rye bread might be the most common vehicle for gzik, but it's not the only place for it, nor is breakfast the only time to eat it. The dip also serves as a fantastic topping for potatoes, especially if you add a little sour cream to the mix. 

Traditional pyry z gzikiem would have it that the gzik should be spooned over baked potatoes that are either left whole in their peels or cut into quarters. But unless you're trying to win the approval of your traditionally minded Polish grandmother-in-law, you can modify the trappings of pyry z gzikiem and spoon it over any kind of spud, be it baked, boiled, mashed, or fried. 

Of course, nothing's stopping you from treating gzik like a stackable dip by serving it alongside crackers. And if you really can't get enough, consider this your official sign to eat it with a spoon.