Salad Dressing

Sos Czosnkowy (Polish Garlic Sauce)

June 16, 2018 by polishhousewife 5 Comments

Sos Czosnkowy (Polish Garlic Sauce) is a staple in Poland, but lucky for me, since it’s not readily availabe in my stateside supermarket, it’s easy to make. Sos Czosnkowy is used in so many ways that I have to say it’s Polish Ranch Dressing.

I remember when buttermilk ranch dressing first appeared on the scene. We put it on salads. Now, you’ll find it used with chicken wings, pizza, people are dipping their french fries and onion rings in it for heaven’s sake. Polish Garlic Sauce is the same way. It’s offered with pizza, with zapiekanka, along side grilled meat and potatoes, and used to make a dressing for Shawarma Salad and Wraps. It’s super tasty, and I think you’ll find a lot of uses for it too, unless you are my friend, David, who is allergic to garlic! 🙁

You can be a purist and just season the base with garlic, salt, and pepper, or dress it up a bit and add dried or fresh herbs, a combination of whatever you have on hand, parsley, rosemary, thyme, dill.

Let me know how you decided to use your Sos Czosnkowy (Polish Garlic Sauce).

Smacznego!

Lois

Sos Czosnkowy (Polish Garlic Sauce)

Author: Polish Housewife
Prep Time: 15 min
Total Time: 15 min
Yield: 1 cup

Description

A creamy garlic sauce, a versitale topping!

Ingredients

2 – 4 cloves of garlic, minced (depending on how strong you want your sauce)

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup mayonaise

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon chopped fresh herbs or a generous pinch of dried (optional), I used parsley and thyme, next time I will probably add dill, use what you like and have on hand

Instructions

Combine all ingredients, chill for at least 10 minutes to let the flavors meld before serving

Bacon Wrapped Figs

July 17, 2016 by polishhousewife 4 Comments

figs, bacon, goat cheese on a bed of greens with a roasted hazelnut vinaigrette

For most of my life, I have not been a fan of figs. I remember a eccentric church member, we’ll call her REW, stopping by my office years ago with a basket full of figs that she’d hoped to give away. When I declined, REW cut off a hunk of fig, shoved it at me saying, “taste it!” She forced me at knife point, so to speak. Despite her forceful nature, I again had to decline, explaining the the texture was too gritty for me. REW proceeded down the office hallway with her figs looking for a more appreciative recepient.

The theme of our time in Poland could be described as “try new things” or “try everything you can.” When my friends from the Poznan International Ladies Club were raving about the figs with goat cheese wrapped in prosciutto they’d sampled recently, I had to give this a try at home. If your history with figs has been like mine, let me suggest that you try them roasted. It’s a totally new experience, not at all gritty!

We began to talk about planting a fig tree when we returned to Arizona. Figs are one of the few fruit trees to thrive in our hot climate. When I mention his to my mother, she said not to buy one because they had a fig tree they would happily give us. We now have a fig tree that comes with a story.

Our tree has grown from a cutting taken from one of the first fig trees brought to the area by the Spainish. The young tree was intended for the Mission Garden, part of the Rio Nuevo project. Rio Nuevo was a downtown revitalization project that fizzled out during the recent economic slump. During this delay, the little fig in a six inch pot was given to our family friend, the late Bunny Fontana. Bunny was a brilliant, charming man, but he would have been the first to admit that he was not a gardener. He said as much when he gave the six inch pot with the now five foot tall fig tree to my mother.

My parents moved the tree to a 5 gallon container and had hoped to harvest enough figs to make something similar to this dish, thinking it would be fun to serve Bunny figs from his tree. The tree grew a lot, but it never produce more than one ripe fig at a time.

Our fig tree has been in the ground for almost two years. The one fig at a time trend continued until this summer. Now, we’re finally getting a harvest with which you can do something. This summer, we’ve had fig pastries, figs in bacon, and if my luck holds out, we might even have fig jam, a wonderful addition to a charcuterie platter.

We’ve been eating bacon wrapped figs with goat cheese all summer, but only recently added the hazelnut dressing and greens. It’s a winning combination!