Kosher Food and Drink

Here’s one of those recipes which looks daunting but will impress the fam and friends. With the Nine Days rapidly approaching, this recipe is timely but also great for any time of the year.

Salty, tangy, rich, and flavorful, labneh is a Middle Eastern cheese often eaten as part of a breakfast or brunch spread. Bonus: it’s probiotic!

More simply, it’s strained yogurt, separating the whey to form a more solid but spreadable dairy offering. Labneh is saltier and distinctly more sour than cream cheese.

It is decidedly easy to make and requires only the following:

• Whole Milk Greek Yogurt
• Salt
• Strainer or cheese cloth

That’s it. No fancy equipment needed. I use cheese cloth for mine but you can simply put yours in a strainer or a colander lined with a paper coffee filter or the like.

Ingredients:

• 16 oz. Whole Milk Greek Yogurt
• 1 tsp. sea salt (you can use as little as 1/8 tsp. if you don’t like salt.
• Spices of your choice, I used za’atar and sumac.

Equipment:

• Cheese cloth (you can get same day here)
• Long wooden spoon or chopsticks
• Deep bowl

Instructions:

1. It is ideal to use whole milk Greek yogurt as this is the thickest available. Low fat or non-Greek yogurt will not give you the results you seek. Stir together the yogurt and salt, mixing them in a bowl.
2. Scrape out the mixture into at least 2 layers of cheesecloth.
3. Pull the corners of the cheesecloth together and close with a rubber band or twine and then tie to either a long wooden spoon or chopsticks and hang over top of a deep bowl so that it is not touching the bottom of the bowl.
4. Place in refrigerator overnight or about 24 hours.
5. 24 hours later, remove from cheesecloth and at that point it’s ready. For our purposes, we are making marinated labneh balls, so on to step 6.
6. Prepare your spices in a small bowl. I used za’atar mixed with sumac, about 3 parts to 1.
7. Scoop off about two tablespoons of the labneh and roll into a ball.
8. Drop the ball into the spice mixture and roll around until all surface area is covered.
9. Gently lift out the labneh ball and place in your storage container.
10. Cover labneh balls with olive oil to submerge.
11. You may enjoy immediately, or better yet, refrigerate and allow to “marinate” and enjoy for several months.
12. Enjoy labneh on toast (my favorite is sourdough), in salads (can be used like you would feta), or on its own.

NOTES:

• Consider the whey dairy and containing lactose.
• The whey can be used in smoothies, in baking, or in a ranch dressing in place of water. It packs a punch of probiotics.
• The leftover olive oil can be used in a (dairy) salad dressing.