Labneh

Labneh always sounded so distant and fancy to me until I realized it’s just yogurt.

To make it at home, you simply drain thick Greek yogurt so that it releases most of its liquid.

For draining the yogurt, I place a sieve on top of a bowl and line it with clean double muslin cloth. You can use coffee filter instead of cloth if you like.

Pour Greek yogurt in the sieve and let drain in fridge for several hours or overnight. You will end up with fairly solid mass that you can season with a little salt and good olive oil.

You can use labneh in endless ways, spread on toast and sprinkled with honey and fresh herbs, or as a base for dips.

Pictured here is labneh with oven-roasted tomatoes, olive oil and fresh mint leaves – the perfect dish for when you have a bowl of almost too ripe tomatoes you want to get use of.

Sweet and dense fall veggies are great with labneh. So are zucchini, peas and mint – a summer combination that always works.