Thursday 18 September 2008

It's cheeeeese Grommit, but not as you know it

I discovered a very tasty Labna cheese (cheese made from yoghurt) at our local deli. However at $14 a jar, it was too expensive to buy often. So after scouring the 'net I found some recipes, realised how easy it was, and haven't looked back since then.

First step, get a kilo of greek yoghurt - I make mine with my easi-yo, but you could buy it from the store or make your own using another yoghurt making technique. It needs to be greek or thick yoghurt though.

To the yoghurt I add a splosh (that's a technical cooking term!) of olive oil, the zest & juice of a lemon, and some thyme. Give this a good stir.


Next step is to line a seive with cheesecloth, muslin or a clean chux, and pour the yoghurt in. At this stage you can cover the yoghurt with the cloth then put a plate with a weight on it (eg a can) on top to press down on the yoghurt. You want to force the liquid our of the yoghurt. If it's warm where you are pop this in the fridge for a day or so.

I tie my cloth up into a ball and then hang it in the pantry as it's nice and cool there at the moment.

After a couple of days you just scrape the cheese from the cloth, roll into balls and store in olive oil. Sometimes I don't bother with this step and just scrape the cheese into a container and pop it into the fridge. It never lasts long as it's so yummy!

I add the liquid to the mash for my chooks so nothing is wasted.

5 comments:

Em said...

Yum, that sounds delicious! I've made labna before but always added extras after; maybe adding them before draining would allow the flavours to develop better - will try it next time, thankyou :)

Nicole and Andrew said...

wow never made cheese before, im adding it to my to do list
thanks :o)

Unknown said...

I have some yoghurt in the fridge just ready to make some yoghurt cheese (same as labna). I too use the EasyYo and just dangle it in a cheese cloth. It tastes great!

Well done Margo

Margo said...

Thanks Gav - do you bother to roll yours into balls and store in oil? I did once but now it just goes into a container :)

Unknown said...

Hi Margo, the cheese is usually stored in a container with an airtight lid, but usually it is gone in two days anyway!

Gav

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