Homemade Labne with homemade dukka and edible flowers

 

Labne cheese is basically strained yogurt. I use Cyclops organic yogurt (green top) which I find to be the best for making labne. Use think plain yogurt which is just yogurt (no added gelatin or other thickeners).

To strain the yogurt I used a cotton cloth, not too fine, but finer that a muslin cloth or cheese cloth. Tight well and hang in the fridge with a container underneath to collect the liquid. Leave it for at least one night and one day. Two days if you can.

To make dukka put some almonds in a skillet and toast quickly, then add pumpkin and sunflower seeds and toss in the hot skillet for one more minute, finish with the coriander seeds, which will need only one minute. Cool down and place in a mixer (keep a few almonds and seeds aside for decoration) with a good pinch of salt, and if you like some smoked paprika. Ground. Place the labne on a platter, cover with dukka and the whole seeds and before serving add rosemary flowers and friarielli or broccolini (or similar brassica) flowers.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Plant based recipes for an Autumn evening

Brrrrr it is getting cold! Time to prepare some filling, comforting and easy dinners :-).

Greg gave us a long pumpkin from his garden, I love it as you just need to slice it and peel it and you have a nice pumpkin medallion!

Roasted pumpkin medallions with pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Slice, peel and place onto an oven tray, drizzle with olive oil, salt, smoked paprika, garlic and crushed cumin seeds. Roast until tender. Toast a few pumpkin and sunflower seeds the oven and sprinkle on the pumpkin medallions before serving.

In addition I had the last zucchini in the garden, not quite a marrow but quite big, so I sliced it and baked it too:

Baked zucchini

Wash and slice lengthwise, drizzle with olive oil and salt, bake. That all!

To serve I added some basmati and lentils

Lemon basmati and lentils

Wash and cook the basmati with a small pinch of salt, open a can of lentils, drain from the water and pour the lentils on top of the rice during the last five minutes of cooking. Turn off the heat, add two tbsp of lemon juice and stir.

And to top some instant hummus with almond dukka:

Instant hummus

Open a can of chickpeas, drain and keep half of its water. Blend the chickpeas, water, two peeled garlic cloves and the juice of half a lemon until smooth. Add salt to taste and a little olive oil.

Almond dukka

Toast half a cup of almond, a few sunflower and pumpkin seeds and 1 tsp of cumin seeds. Add a little rock salt, a pinch of paprika or the spice of your choice. Grind and use to top the Hummus.

Well, that was easy, the kids loved it and got eaten in no time!

And remember that May 15 is Food Revolution Day! Sign the petition here!

#FoodRevolutionDay

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Almond, Sesame and Fennel Dukka

Yep more almonds, but for something savoury today. I love dukka, and I wander why I don't make it more often, but as I still have lots of almonds no excuse! My base recipe is in my book Savour, yet the beauty with dukka is that it can be personalized each time, and it is always good. For this one I toasted 100 g of almonds (not blanched) in the oven for 10 minutes, then I added one tbsp of sesame seed, one tsp of cumin seeds and half tsp of fennel seeds and put everything back into the oven for 4-5 more minutes.

All in the food processor, and then grind until fine but still a little chunky.

At the end I added some smoked paprika and some salt. Dukka can be used as a rub, a topping (great on hummus) and as a dip. And it can be made with a variety of nuts, seeds and spices.

The best way to eat it, for me, is to use it with bread: dip some bread in extra virgin olive oil first...

And then in the dukka!. Quite addictive, and the perfect party food. It lasts a few days in a sealed tin container.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©