In Good Taste #38: Labneh with Fermented Garlic Honey
Also a great salad dressing/dip; exciting news about day-long courses in Oxfordshire and summer supper clubs in London; the best novel I've read in a while
Well, hello there! How are you?
Good I hope. Thank you so much for being here.
(Not up for the chitchat? Completely get it. Click the email title to go to a web-based version then jump straight to the recipe, or Cultural Fun.)
So, I have been trailing exciting announcements for a while now so I’m over the moon to be able to tell you about not-one-but-two new projects.
Seasonal Fermentation Course at Home Farm in Oxfordshire
This is going to be absolutely lovely. Anita Cook came to one of my classes at the Dusty Knuckle last year and approached me afterwards to ask if I’d be interested in running something in her home. Which turned out to be a beautiful, historic, grade II*-listed coaching-in-turned-farmhouse in Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire.
Anita’s recently-renovated kitchen is just perfect for hosting a hands-on class and, what’s more, she is involved with Worthy Earth, a no-dig, regenerative agriculture project, letting them use her neighbouring field as a market garden. So we’ll be able to pick our vegetables straight from the ground, hear about Worthy Earth from its co-founder Harrison Fannon and then turn those vegetables into beautiful ferments.
I’m so grateful for this opportunity to offer a course in such beautiful surroundings and with access to super-seasonal, hyper-local produce. It’ll be a full-day thing, from 10am to 4pm and we’ll cover “wild” lacto-ferments like kraut, kimchi and pickles (made with those freshly picked veg), and also cultured products: vinegar, kombucha and kefir.
Lunch is included and attendees will go home with a bag of their ferments and starter cultures and a detailed recipe and info booklet.
The first dates will take place on Friday June 7th and Friday June 28th with others to come later in the summer. What’s more, In Good Taste subscribers get a 30% discount on the June 7th date. Just use the code IGT30 at checkout.
Summer Supper Clubs at Lizzy’s On The Green
Last summer I did a series of supper clubs at Lizzy’s, the tiny cafe on Newington Green which has an outsize place in local hearts. I served a selection of small and sharing plates: seasonally-inspired dishes, many of which showcased subtle fermented flavours. And it was so much fun.
So my second bit of news is that I’m doing it again! I couldn’t be more delighted to be working with Lizzy and her team again. The dates will be Saturday 22nd June and Saturday 20th July. Menu TBC but I expect there’ll be lots of veg-forward dishes, fresh pasta and maybe some elderflower champagne? Tickets aren’t on sale yet but mark your diaries and make sure you’re subscribed to be the first to know when they are…
Recipe: Labneh with Fermented Garlic Honey
Did you make some fermented garlic honey last week? If not, go and chuck some cloves in a jar right now. In a couple of week’s time you’ll be glad you did as then you’ll be able to make this recipe which is nearly as easy as the garlic itself. I think I’m going to be eating this on repeat all spring and summer long.
Labneh is strained yoghurt. By removing some of the water the yoghurt gets super thick with a texture more like cream cheese. The only thing here that is any effort at all is remembering to strain the yoghurt the day before you want to eat it.
It’s great on its own or as a base for other flavours. The quantities I’ve given make enough for 8 people if served as a starter or snack (the picture shows half this amount). But obviously scale up or down as you need. I’d scale up if I were you. The labneh keeps for ages in the fridge - at least two weeks - and is a great thing to have on hand for snacking, spreading on bread or serving as a condiment alongside grilled meat or vegetables.
If you didn’t make any fermented garlic honey it will still be delicious with regular regular honey.
Ingredients for the labneh
600g Greek yoghurt
1 tsp salt
1 garlic clove, minced
To serve
4 tbsp fermented garlic honey
2 tbsp olive oil
pinch chilli flakes
Method
Strain the yoghurt. Put a muslin or cheese cloth in a sieve and set it over a bowl. Scoop the yoghurt into the cloth and cover with clingfilm or a plate. Leave in the fridge overnight. I like to tie the corners of the muslin over the yoghurt and rest a saucer or small bowl on top to help press out more moisture.
Season the labneh. After about 24 hours discard the liquid and put the thickened yoghurt in a bowl. Add the salt and garlic and stir well to combine. Taste and adjust salt levels if desired - it can take a surprising amount.
Serve. Spread the labneh on a plate, drizzle over the honey and oil and sprinkle with chilli flakes.
Notes (If Ifs And Ands Were Pots And Pans…)
Full fat Greek yoghurt works best here. You can make something passable from low fat but it’s not the same.
Add any herbs you like with the garlic. Finely chopped mint and/or chives are classic. You could also use the garlic from the honey for a mellower taste. I actually prefer the bite of fresh garlic here but bear in mind that the flavour will get stronger the longer it sits.
If you don’t have any fermented garlic honey then I feel sad for you but you could use normal “runny” honey and it will be lovely.
I used gochugaru flakes to sprinkle on as I always have loads of them around for kimchi making. They’re good all-rounder chilli flakes: slightly sweet and smoky and not too crazy hot. Obviously this mix of middle eastern and oriental is non-traditional but works well since Gochugaru actually aren’t dissimilar to Turkish chilli flakes (aka Aleppo pepper or pul biber). Use whatever you have to hand and suits your chilli tolerance or leave them out altogether.
Recipe: Fermented Garlic Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
This is a really nice vinaigrette. The sweetness makes it a particularly good match for bitter leaves. It gave me nostalgic, old-school salad bar vibes so I couldn’t resist adding some grated carrot to mine.
This makes enough to dress one medium-sized salad. I would have made way more but was running out of honey.
Ingredients
1 tbsp fermented garlic honey
4 cloves honey fermented garlic, minced
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Method
Put all the ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously to combine.
Taste and adjust seasoning acidity levels.
Notes (If Ifs And Ands Were Pots And Pans…)
This would be good stirred into mayonnaise (or a half mayo/half yoghurt mix) as a dip for anything fried and crispy.
The honey fermented garlic is really sweet and mellow. If you make it using normal garlic, just use one clove.
Toss your salad really well. For 30 seconds at least. I learned this from Nigella and you’d be surprised how much difference it makes - you use less dressing as it gets properly integrated into the salad and coats every leaf.
Cultural Fun
I just finished Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi which was the best novel I’ve read in a while. I can’t remember who suggested it for book group but I’m grateful they did as it passed me by when it came out in 2022.
It’s the story of Gifty, growing up in Alabama as the daughter of Ghanaian immigrant parents, whose grief over her opioid addict brother is somehow transmuted into a career in neuroscience.
God and science, parents and children, addictions and control, belonging and becoming, grief and survival: all these themes are woven together really deftly and lightly.
I see Mark Radcliffe and Marc “Lard” Riley are doing a series of live shows, reminiscing about their days on Radio 1. I don’t think I’ll be going. I feel I’ve over-nostalgised recently. But their 10-til-midnight show was formative for me and I remember it fondly. Not just for Mark and Lard themselves and, obviously the great music, but the eclectic selection of guests. It was where I first heard both future Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and Graham Fellows’ classic comic creation John Shuttleworth. What a combo!
The news also made me remember how brilliantly weird Radio 1 was under Matthew Bannister. There was Chris Morris’ seminal Blue Jam the Armando Iannucci show and Radio Tip Top which I loved but, nearly 30 years later, remain slightly confused by.
Bye! See you next week!
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Lovely! If you didn’t want to ferment honey (largely because you’re not up to it — this may or may not be hypothetical), any suggestions as substitutes? 🥰