Labneh

Preparation 1. Line a large bowl with a piece of cheesecloth or other fine cloth. In another bowl, mix the yogurt and salt well. Transfer the yogurt to the cheesecloth, pick up the edges of the cloth, and tie them together well to form a bundle. hang this over your sink or over a large bowl and leave for 48 hours. By this time the yogurt will have lost most of its liquid and be ready to use as a spread. 2. To go the whole hog, leave it hanging for a day longer. Remove the cheese from the cloth and place in a sealed container in the fridge. Once it is thoroughly chilled, preferably after 24 hours hours, roll the cheese into balls, somewhere between the size of an olive and a walnut. 3. Take a sterilized jar about 2 1/2 cups / 600 ml in capacity. Pour some of the oil inside and gently lay the balls in the oil. Add some more oil and continue with the balls until all the cheese is in the jar and immersed in oil. Seal the jar and keep until needed. 4. Before serving, scatter the mint and pepper on a flat plate and roll the balls in it. Reprinted with permission from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. Copyright © 2008 by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi; food photographs copyright © 2008 by Richard Learoyd. Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Yotam Ottolenghi owns an eponymous group of restaurants in London, plus a high-end restaurant, Nopi, also in London. His 2011 cookbook, Plenty, was a New York Times bestseller. Sami Tamimi is a partner and head chef at Ottolenghi. Their 2012 cookbook, Jerusalem, was a New York Times bestseller and was awarded Cookbook of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals.

Preparation 1. Line a large bowl with a piece of cheesecloth or other fine cloth. In another bowl, mix the yogurt and salt well. Transfer the yogurt to the cheesecloth, pick up the edges of the cloth, and tie them together well to form a bundle. hang this over your sink or over a large bowl and leave for 48 hours. By this time the yogurt will have lost most of its liquid and be ready to use as a spread. 2. To go the whole hog, leave it hanging for a day longer. Remove the cheese from the cloth and place in a sealed container in the fridge. Once it is thoroughly chilled, preferably after 24 hours hours, roll the cheese into balls, somewhere between the size of an olive and a walnut. 3. Take a sterilized jar about 2 1/2 cups / 600 ml in capacity. Pour some of the oil inside and gently lay the balls in the oil. Add some more oil and continue with the balls until all the cheese is in the jar and immersed in oil. Seal the jar and keep until needed. 4. Before serving, scatter the mint and pepper on a flat plate and roll the balls in it. Reprinted with permission from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. Copyright © 2008 by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi; food photographs copyright © 2008 by Richard Learoyd. Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Yotam Ottolenghi owns an eponymous group of restaurants in London, plus a high-end restaurant, Nopi, also in London. His 2011 cookbook, Plenty, was a New York Times bestseller. Sami Tamimi is a partner and head chef at Ottolenghi. Their 2012 cookbook, Jerusalem, was a New York Times bestseller and was awarded Cookbook of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals.