Le Chef's Kitchen

Earlier this week Tina over at Choosy Beggars put up an intriguing recipe for making your own yogurt cheese spread, which of course involves making your own yogurt cheese.  Since I have never made yogurt cheese before, I had to give it a shot.  It was surprisingly easy, and the results were pretty amazing.  I think that technically this is more of just a concentrated yogurt rather than a “cheese”, but the end product is a tangy, creamy dip that is great with some home made pita chips.

The process involved with making yogurt cheese is pretty straightforward.  It basically consists of removing liquid from plain yogurt to thicken it substantially.  I used 1 quart of whole milk yogurt, which yielded about 2 cups of cheese.

The first step is to line a strainer with cheesecloth.  I didn’t have any cheesecloth, but I have had success draining fresh ricotta using a paper towel, so I used that instead.  Place the yogurt in the lined strainer over a bowl and allow to drain for about 3-4 hours in the fridge.  You’ll want to check it after about 2 hours to empty the drainage bowl.

After the initial draining, fold the paper towel over the top of the cheese and place a plate (note: I used a plastic tupperware lid, actually) on top of the cheese.  The diameter of the plate should be less than the diameter of the strainer, so that you exert force on the cheese to push extra moisture out.  Place a heavy object (I used a jar of applesauce)  on top, and leave it to drain overnight.

What you’ll wind up with the next day is a batch of yogurt cheese that is somewhere around the consistency of soft cream cheese.

For the Dip (Adapted from Tina at Choosy Beggars):

• 2 cups yogurt cheese (from 1 quart whole milk yogurt)
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 cup kalamata olives, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
• crushed red pepper to taste (about 1/4 tsp)
• smoked paprika

Procedure:

Mix all of the ingredients together in a medium bowl.  Serve with fresh pita chips (recipe here).

As Tina points out, this dip can be served up just how it is (and believe me, it’s excellent).  However, you can definitely spice it up if you want to add additional flavors.  A squeeze of lemon juice, some black pepper, some roasted red peppers: almost anything you want to throw in there.  Think of all of the different flavors of hummus that you see in the store, and let your tastebuds be your guide.