Nettle Yoghurt Cheese

One of the dishes we made at a recent course studying Yoghurt, Butter and Cheese in the Ballymaloe Cookery School, was Labneh, or strained yoghurt. My goodness it is divine! It's easy to make, and can be used in cooking or served just as it is. It's delicious with some good olive oil, made into a sauce, in a dessert with fruit, or eaten like a soft cheese.

Labneh is simply strained yoghurt, left in muslin overnight to remove the whey. So much whey comes out, you wonder how there could be anything left, and this whey makes the best bread.

You can flavour the labneh with fruit and honey and other sweet foods. Or make it savoury. Salt it, and I added some nettles.

The nettles here are dried, but thanks to the suggestion of my Twitter friend @ZwablesIE, I first blanched them to remove the sting. Another twitter buddy @modernfarmette introduced the idea of nettle salt, and these blanched nettles would work for that too. Have the water on a rolling boil. Dip in the nettles briefly, strain and put the leaves into a bowl of very cold water. Drain again and spin immediately in a salad spinner, and then dry. You can use a dehydrator (the best), or dry in a very low oven.

Thanks to Eddie O'Neill, Dairy Artisan Food Specialist from Teagasc and to Darina Allen from the Ballymaloe Cookery School for the specialist course, which runs in Ballymaloe three times a year and is much recommended.