- Mix the yogurt and salt together. You can add flavor at two points – either mix in your spices/herbs with the yogurt now, or add them to the oil later.
- Line a sieve with fine muslin/cheesecloth and place over a deep bowl (you don’t want your yogurt to come in contact with the liquid that has been drained). Place the yogurt mixture into the sieve. Cover the lot and place in the fridge to drain – this can be anywhere from 6 hours to 5 days! The longer it drains the thicker it will be.
- After it has drained to the consistency you like, you can scoop them up by tablespoons and form into balls (this is what Donna does). Place balls in a jar and, if you didn’t add them to the yogurt in the beginning, toss in the herbs/spices, then cover with olive oil. Store in the fridge.
- Another way of forming the cheese (May’s method) is to press onto a plate with the back of a spoon, causing little indentations in the cheese (like how hummus is often served). Drizzle olive oil into the indentations and sprinkle za'atar or dried mint (again c/o May) all over the cheese.
You could also have this for breakfast! See the breakfast spread Barbara put together with labneh.
***It was part of a terrific feature called “a dairymaid’s tale” which included recipes on how to make your own ricotta, curd cheese, clotted cream, and yogurt! Absolutely gorgeous white-on-white-on-white food styling too!
- Pit the olives by placing them on a chopping board then pressing down on them with the flat blade of a large knife. You don’t want to crush them to bits, just crack them open so you can remove the pits. Place olives in a bowl and discard pits.
- Cut four or five thin slices from the lemon half (discarding any pips) and add to the olives.
- Roughly crush the coriander seeds in a spice grinder or coffee grinder, or using a mortar and pestle. Do not grind them to a powder; you just want the seeds cracked so they release their aroma. Add this to the olives.
- Juice the other lemon and add to the olives, along with the garlic and the olive oil. Season with pepper. Taste first before adding any salt as the olives are probably salty enough.
- Mix everything well and leave to marinate for at least an hour before serving. This will keep for a week in the fridge (covered).
I like this recipe because I love the aroma and flavor of coriander seeds. Tessa says this is a typical Cypriot preparation. If you are too lazy to pit the olives, then leave them unpitted, or, like I did here, only pit some of them. This is great for a cocktail party because you can make it ahead (it will actually get better and more infused if you let it sit overnight) and have it on the table when your guests arrive – distracting them and giving you time to finish up the more a la minute stuff.
This is going with us to the farm, along with other goodies, as part of a Greek dinner we are preparing. We are in charge of Friday lunch and dinner – dinner will be Greek-themed and lunch will be Mexican. All seafood! I hope to have some photos to show when I get back :)
I’ve always been a girly-girl. Whether by nature, by nurture, or by fate, my internal compass always points to an undeniably feminine North. Pink is my favorite color (well, pink and gold actually). As a child, I loved dolls. Yes, Barbie, I’m not ashamed to admit. I collect ribbons. I love earrings…especially ones long enough brush my shoulders. I owned a hoop skirt when I was a kid…and I used to prance around the garden in it, pretending to be Scarlett O’hara.
It could be argued that I am absolutely and positively awful at anything athletic, thus leaving me no choice but to be girly or be scorned, but I think my intentions were sincere.
There were times though that I hid it. I hid it under black clothes and loud music and sarcasm. But still. It lived and it thrived. It would not be denied.
Then one fine day, somewhere in between the angst of adolescence and the cusp of adulthood, I realized: I’m girly and I don’t care what anyone thinks! Pink is my favorite color! PINK is my favorite color!!!
You know what I discovered then? You can be girly and pink and Barbie…and also be rock and smudged black eyeliner and sharp wit. In this day and age, we can have our cake and eat it too!
And if you know your way around the kitchen, that takes on a deliciously literal aspect.
Case in point: Let’s say you like bananas and banana bread. You also like Nutella and anything with Nutella…especially cupcakes. Plus, you want to use your pink cake stand and pink argyle cupcake liners.
No problem.
I knew I had to make these Nutella Banana Muffins as soon as I saw the recipe on Delicious Days. It has everything I could hope for in a cupcake/muffin (ok, except for this)! I made them for an afternoon tea I had a while back with my dear bookstore friends. Instead of making the chocolate coating though, I frosted the cupcakes with more Nutella. A bit much? I don’t think so. Because of the way Nutella seems to disappear on me when I bake it, I thought a little bit of uncooked Nutella insurance was called for!
A chocolate, Nutella-y, banana bread all dolled up in pink argyle cupcake liners…what more could this girly-girl want? (ok, I know!) Baking your cake and eating it too is truly priceless.
P.S. I still like black clothes (very slimming!) and loud rock music. I still suck at sports. I still like sarcasm (although maybe not as “out loud” as before). I still smile when I pass Barbie in the toy store. I no longer own a hoop skirt but I still pretend to be Scarlett O’hara sometimes :)
P.P.S. Have anyone seen this? What a super idea! Whether you're in pink or in black or in anything in between…Girls Rock!
I fell in love in Bicol.
During my visit there last year, my friend K and I fell madly in love with the region’s culinary trifecta – Laing, Bicol Express, and Pinangat. All three dishes proudly bearing the two elements that Bicolano food is famous for – gata (coconut milk) and chili. Our kind hosts would valiantly try to make us eat other dishes, but we were having none of it. Really, it was unusual for us to have blinders on when it comes to food, but we could not see beyond those three dishes, devouring them with an almost angry passion. And K doesn’t even care for food that is too spicy! How do you explain that?
To this day K and I keep our eyes and noses on red alert for fine Bicol fare. We text message each other fervently when we chance on something promising and do many taste tests. When K’s nose and palate sense a good find you will hear her say softly and sweetly, “Hello friend!”
Bicolano food has me whipped good and proper. It has wound its coconut milk and chili tentacles around me and refuses to let go. And I’m not struggling.
I’m making my own.
Laing (pronounced lah-ing)
(adapted from Flavors of the Philippines by Glenda Rosales-Barretto)
- In a bowl, mix the pork, shrimp, onion, ginger, bagoong, the cut-up chilis, and the coconut milk. Pour this into the pot, over the leaves, and season with freshly ground black pepper.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Don’t stir…just press down on the leaves every once in a while so it soaks up the liquid.
- Add the whole chilis and the coconut cream and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Stir gently to make sure all is incorporated without mashing the leaves too much.
I based my recipe on the one found in Flavors of the Philippines by Glenda Rosales-Barretto…which incidentally (drum roll please) is my very first Filipino cookbook! I love cookbooks, but when it comes to Filipino food, relatives and friends seem to be much better sources of recipes than any book could. But it bothered me that I didn’t own even one local cookbook, so with the recommendation of a friend, I chose this one. I like it because it has a little bit from each region – Bicol included (yay!). I’ll be exploring more of this book soon :)
Glenda (first name basis already!) uses fresh gabi leaves and stalks, but I used dried (you can find this in the groceries labeled as “dried laing” or “dried gabi”). If you want to see fresh gabi leaves check here. I used the dried version because, aside from it being easier to find, fresh gabi leaves require special handling…or else they make your throat itch like the devil! I know this firsthand. Imagine thorns suddenly sprouting on the inside of your throat. You get the idea. Dried gabi leaves for me, thank you. I also used less chilis than in the original recipe and didn’t add any sili labuyo (our oh-so-spicy bird’s eye chili). This will make a fairly mild laing with just a touch of spice. Add more chilis, or use sili labuyo, to increase the heat.
Of course, K is the first person I text message when I see my brew starting to resemble the laing we know and love. I have a big batch, so I can give her a fair amount of takeaway. She comes over as soon as work is done with hot, steaming rice in tow and sits down to try my first ever laing.
Hello friend! :)
This is my entry to Lasang Pinoy 24: Loco over Coco hosted by Kai of Bucaio. I’m late! But I couldn’t miss this round…I love coconuts! :)