Monday, September 2, 2013

New to Me! & Labneh Roundup

One of the joys of cooking along with Ottolenghi is the variety of ingredients he uses and the way he combines them into different combinations and dishes! So this week our IHCC theme is...

New to Me!


It's your chance to make any Ottolenghi recipe you like with a new (or newish, less used or familiar) to you ingredient, dish, cuisine, cooking technique or cooking style.

So open up those cookbooks, go online, pick something NEW and post your Ottolenghi recipe by Sunday, September 8.

Don't forget to link your dish with a thumbnail image, below.  Please remember to leave a comment after linking so that we don't miss out on your dish


New to IHCC?  Need help linking up?  Please see our Welcome pageIf you have any questions, please leave a comment below and we will get back with you.  

If you didn't check out the entries for last week's Pies & Tarts theme, be sure to check out the links and see the fabulous dishes that were made.

***Optional Monthly Community Recipe: Labneh Roundup***

August's Optional Monthly Community Recipe was Labneh, creamy and delicious strained yogurt cheese. 

Sue of Couscous & Consciousness ended up with a beautiful jar of creamy labneh orbs and says, "When you're ready to use the labneh, remove the balls from the oil, roll in a mixture of dried mint and freshly ground black pepper, and serve in salads, or as part of a mezze platter, or just with a couple of crackers. ... The resulting cheese has a delicious, delicate, citrusy/yoghurty tang, and the dried mint is the perfect complement to it.  Although there are a couple of days involved in making this, most of that time it's just taking care of itself in the fridge.  The actual effort you have to put in is about 5 to 10 minutes max, and results in a great store cupboard ingredient to have on hand."


At Kahakai Kitchen, I used my yogurt cheese in Ottolenghi's Labneh with Olives, Pistachios & Oregano which was so darn delicious I think I am going to have to make it again this week. Topped with a mix of briny olives and toasted nuts and spread on crusty bread, it made for an easy and tasty appetizer. (OK, actually I ate a small plate as my dinner meal with bread and rosemary flat bread crackers but it would be a fabulous pupu!) ;-)



I looked through the last few weeks and didn't see any other entries so if you did make labneh, leave a comment on this post and I will add you to the roundup. Since this is our last month cooking along with Ottolenghi, we are going to skip an Optional Monthly Community Recipe for September and evaluate if we will continue this feature with our next chef. (Voting poll for our next female chef will be up soon--keep your eye on the side bar!)

Looking forward to seeing your "New to Me!" dishes!

**Please take a moment to vote for our new female chef!  Voting poll will be up for one week only!**   

9 comments:

kitchen flavours said...

Sue's labneh looks really fabulous and Deb's labneh dish is something that I would love to try. You did great, ladies!
Have to skip this month's labneh recipe, however making labneh is definitely on my list of to-try!
Waiting anxiously for the votes of the new female chefs to be up! I'm really excited to see who are the nominees!

Tina said...

Good looking dishes here! Gets my tummy rumbling :-)
Great choice of female chefs in the mix this time. I am excited!

Zosia said...

I don't normally try to burn food when I cook - it sometimes just happens - but I did that this week, intentionally burning eggplant with delicious results!

Couscous & Consciousness said...

I'm up early this week (well, early for me), with Maqluba, using the new-to-me spice blend baharat.

kitchen flavours said...

Brik from me, a Tunisian snack, a "newish" snack for me.

Deb in Hawaii said...

I chose my new (since Ottolenghi) favorite: sumac--in sauteed kale with pine nuts & goat cheese.

Kim said...

I made the most delicious Broccoli and Gorgonzola Pie. It was decadent and luscious and worth every single bite! Thanks to Michelle for sharing it!

Kim said...

I made the most delicious Broccoli and Gorgonzola Pie. It was decadent and luscious and worth every single bite! Thanks to Michelle for sharing it!

Kim said...

The labneh looks terrific, ladies!