When I saw someone's post on goat milk halloumi I was overcome with inadequacy and jealousy. Crying into my coconut milk latte, I consoled myself by remembering I made kick ass labneh, which is basically cheese without the firmness, and kinda like halloumi except it's not hard and you can't fry it. Okay so it's not like halloumi at all. Damn it. But it's the kinda recipe that makes you feel pretty clever and fools you into thinking 'hey! I made CHEESE!' when really all you did was make yoghurt more solid. You can use store bought Greek yoghurt but I used my yoghurt maker, leaving it for 40 hours to set really well and get a lovely tartness to it. This sounds like I intended it that way but I basically forgot to check it. For milk, I bought mine from the local wholefoods. It's Schulz Organic Dairy which has organic milk in RETURNABLE, REFILLABLE GLASS - just like they did in the old days. Zero waste. Their philosophy is that happy cows produce delicous milk - and that makes me okay with consuming it, otherwise I'm not always that keen to eat dairy. Anyway, after that it goes into cheesecloth into a colander over a pot with a plate over the top and into the fridge for another twenty four hours until all it gets quite cream cheesey in texture - firm enough to roll into balls, if you like. 
I really like my labneh well infused with herbs, so I added chives, basil, fennel fronds, mint, lots of pepper and a little salt, and stirred it in, leaving it overnight so the herbal flavour permeated the labneh. 
And then, perfection! Creamy delicousness. 
I decided to go for an Ottolenghi inspired meal with fried white beans with smoked paprika and black onion seeds, but I forgot to pick up black onion seeds so.... nevermind. Served with fresh shaved zucchini and a squeeze of lemon. 
We ate this so fast there was no point in rolling into balls and putting it into oil to preserve - maybe next time. Next time I might try a plant based labneh - this recipe looks easy.
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Oh! And, funny!!!! Very funny!
My goodness this looks good! I make yogurt, and often have too much of it. So I can just leave some fermenting for another 24 hours, and I'll have labneh? Def gonna try this! How long does it last without being stored in oil?
As long as you would imagine yoghurt or cheese to last! You'd eat it before it spoilt. Try - it's a good one!
Wow, that looks so good!!
Note: Try to use tags: r2cornell, instablurt, blurtmob and … 😉
Oh ta, still learning! I will 💕🙏
Funny! hard yoghurt.
It's like the milk I leave the cat - only takes an hour to turn into
hard yoghurtsour puss goo.🤢🐱
Hey my friend - long time no speak! :D Great to see you on #blurt. This looks delicious!!
Oh goodness I've MISSED you!!!!
Likewise my friend - great to see you on #blurt! I think we all have the opportunity to create something great over here. It's also early days and the price is still low - hence the ability build a generous stake. :)
Wow, that looks tasty! We have a goat, but we don't milk her just yet! I probably need to start so I can make some goat cheese. I have only really made farmer cheese in the past with cow milk...I need to branch out and try some others!!
Well @buckaroobaby is your go to goat mama for that!
Someone brought this to a pot luck and it was DIVINE, mixed with evoo and lemon. I remembered this post of yours, so here I am!!! I've got too much milk and have already started to make this. I'm 18 hours into a batch of yogurt. I figure I can just leave it on another ten hours or so, and see what happens. What do you think of this plan? The stuff at the party was soooo good.
Awesome. Once the yoghurt is done, strain through a cheesecloth for 23 hrs in fridge or on side if it not too warm. Oh and mix some salt in it before then too. Or whatever seasoning you want. AMAZING ..
Thanks for that tip! Should I cool it before I strain it? I made quite a bit of it, so I'll be able to try a few different flavors. Ramps, olive oil and lemon, chive blossom, oregano and black pepper... Pretty exciting thanks for the info!
Oooh that sounds yummy! No need to worry about the temperature. Why is your yoghurt hot?
I ferment it on a heated base. So not hot, but warm.
I have two batches of cheese draining, one with ramps, another with oregano, parsley and pepper. So easy!!!
Yuuuummm...photo when you're done??
lol I've already eaten a lot of it! I am just not in the mood to document my life for my blogs at the moment. I do a garden entry once a month. I guess it's time for that one. I went to look at a house for sale, one I will make an offer on, and I did not take one single shot. I loved just being there, you know?
But boy is that cheese good. Drizzled with olive oil and lemon, the ramp one was spectacularly satisfying. I'll do it again, and maybe do a whole diy post about the stuff. Many of us have too much milk - this cheese is the simplest thing one can do with it. Big batch of yogurt, leave some of it to ferment twice as long, and you'll have a fridge full of goodies.
Awesome, so glad you liked it. Isn't it great finding something new and realising how easy it is?
Lol, I reckon I document 25 percent of my life. I quite like the idea of the internet imploding so I don't do it as much as I do 😂🌈