Twaróg – Polish spicy quark

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 pack of layered cheese, preferably Polish (Twaróg tlusty, 275 g)
• 1 cup of sour cream, Polish (Smietana, 200 g) or crème fraîche or sour cream
• some whipped cream, if desired
• 1 spring onion(s)
• salt and pepper
• possibly chives

Instructions

Working time approx. 5 minutes; Total time approx. 5 minutes

plain, with bread or potatoes, as a filling for tomatoes…

Roughly mash the twaróg in a bowl, mix with the smietana, season with salt and pepper. Finely slice the spring onion and mix in. If you like, you can also add chives. And if you like it extra creamy, stir in a few spoonfuls of liquid or lightly whipped cream. This spicy quark is often found on the breakfast buffet in Polish hotels. I’ve tried various combinations, and this is my favorite. Twaróg is very dry, which makes the quark dish nice and crumbly. It can be stored in a screw-top jar in the refrigerator (just add the spring onions and chives just before serving). Twaróg and smietana are available in Polish stores in different fat levels. I used twaróg with 8 g of fat per 100 g (twaróg tlusty) and smietana with 18% fat. You can replace the Twaróg with layered cheese and the Smietana with sour cream or crème fraîche.