Labneh

Labneh is a yogurt dip made with mint, garlic and olive oil. You can use Greek Yogurt for this recipe or just drain the water out of the plain yogurt so that it turns thick and creamy.

Ingredients

1 cup plain yogurt, drained
1/4 cup fresh mint, finely chopped
1 tbs dry mint
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs olive oil

For making the yogurt thick all you have to do is place the desired amount of plain yogurt in a fine mesh sieve and let the water drain in a bowl (placed underneath the sieve) for a few hours. After a few hours you will get yogurt with thick and creamy consistency.

Heat the garlic in olive oil for a minute and let is cool till it reaches the room temperature. This is to take the edge off of the garlic. You can skip this step if you don’t mind the flavor of raw garlic. Add all the ingredients in a bowl and stir to mix well. Chill in the fridge for an hour before serving.

(veggiezest.com)

Quitten in Vanillesirup

Zutaten

1 Limette
600 g Quitten
1 Vanilleschote
175 g Zucker
1-2 EL Pistazienkerne
1 Becher (Soja) Crème fraîche

Den Saft der Limette auspressen und 2 EL Saft mit ca. 700 ml Wasser mischen. Quitten abreiben, waschen, dünn schälen, längs in Viertel schneiden und vom Kerngehäuse befreien. Quittenviertel und Kerngehäuse (gibt ein gutes Aroma!) sofort in das Limettenwasser legen, damit sie sich nicht verfärben. Eventuell etwas mehr Wasser zugeben, damit die Quitten bedeckt sind. Alles zum Kochen bringen.

Die Vanilleschote längs aufschlitzen, Mark herauskratzen und mit dem Zucker mischen. Mit der Schote zu den Quitten geben. Alles zugedeckt bei mittlerer Hitze je nach Quittensorte in 20-40 Min. weich kochen. Die Pistazien hacken.

Kerngehäuse entfernen. Die Quitten abtropfen und etwas abkühlen lassen, in dünne Spalten schneiden. Die Flüssigkeit offen einkochen, bis sie rötlich und sirupartig wird. Vanilleschote entfernen. Den Sirup mit Limettensaft abschmecken.

Quitten anrichten, auf jede Portion einen Löffel Crème fraîche geben, mit Sirup beträufeln und mit den Pistazien bestreuen.

Labne

Makes 15-20

Ingredients

1.5kg thick Greek yoghurt
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs rosemary
2 sprigs oregano
2 garlic cloves
2 cups (500ml) extra virgin olive oil, preferably Greek

Method

Place yoghurt in a bowl with 2 teaspoons sea salt and stir to combine. Lay muslin on a workbench, place yoghurt in centre, then gather up muslin sides and tie with string. Suspend the ball over a bowl - we found the best way to do this was to tie the ball to a wooden spoon, then rest the spoon on the top of a bowl, allowing the ball to hang down. Leave to drain in the fridge for 3 days. Discard the whey that has drained out, remove yoghurt to a bowl and discard muslin. Roll yoghurt into golf-sized balls, lay on a baking tray and refrigerate for 3 hours to dry out. Place in a sterilised preserving jar with herbs and garlic, cover with oil and seal. Leave to marinate for 24 hours. Keep for up to 1 week.

Notes & tips

These delicious little yoghurt cheese balls are usually served as part of a Middle Eastern mezze platter with dips, marinated vegetables and warm pita bread. You will need a double thickness of butter muslin*.

*Butter muslin is available from kitchenware and haberdashery stores.

(homemade-recipes.blogspot.com)