Pickled Grapes
Yield: 500g
Prep time: 25 mins
Total time: 35 mins
Ingredients
Red Grapes | 500g
Red Wine Vinegar | 1 cup
Water | 1 cup
Sugar 185g
Fresh Ginger 1 slice
Allspice berries 4
Cinnamon Stick 1
Black Peppercorns 6
Nothing is set in stone here, use different spices or omit others
listed here, for me, the cinnamon, allspice and peppercorns are a
must but there are many other variations just as wonderful, play
around and go for it.
Directions
Have a 500ml or two smaller jars with lid/s cleaned, sterilised and ready to go.
Wash and dry your grapes, chop the tiniest bit of the stem ends off, you can leave the grapes whole or cut them in half, set aside.
Make your pickling liquid by placing all ingredients except the grapes into a non reactive saucepan over a low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Once dissolved, increase the heat and bring to the boil, remove from the heat.
Place the grapes into the jar/s and pour hot pickling liquid over the grapes, let them soften, they might shrink a little bit and then you ‘ll have more room to fit more grapes. Leave about 2cm from the top of your jar/container, gently tap the jar to remove air bubbles, you can also use a clean implement to move grapes if required and release air pockets.
Wipe the rim of the jar with a clean cloth and seal, you can store these in your fridge and use within a few weeks, if you’re like me though, they won’t last that long.
Labne
Yield: 500g
Prep time: 5 mins
Total time: 12 hours to 3 days straining
Ingredients
Greek or Plain Natural Yoghurt | 500g can be cow or sheep’s
milk yoghurt
Salt | one little pinch
Oil | ½ cup of lovely extra virgin olive oil
Chopped herbs, seeds, spices, nuts – anything you would like to
cover your labne in OR you can leave it plain and just store in
extra virgin olive oil or you can infuse the oil with herbs and
spices.
Directions
In a mixing bowl, stir a pinch of salt through your yoghurt.
Line a large sieve with some muslin cloth (if you don’t have muslin use a clean big chux style cloth), fold the cloth over to make sure it’s at least double thickness.
Place the yoghurt in the lined sieve, gather up all the edges and either rubber band or knot, or clip to cover all of the yoghurt. Place the sieve and yoghurt over a deep bowl and place that in the fridge and let it drain, you can leave for as long or as little as you like. The longer you leave it, the firmer it becomes, every few hours or each day you can squeeze out excess liquid to speed up the process.
When you are happy with the consistency, roll into balls, any size you like, place those balls into a clean jar or container. Mix your oil together with any herbs, spices, lemon zest, anything you like and pour that mix over the labne balls. Cover and place in the fridge to marinate for as long as you like, they will keep for at least two weeks.
Special notes:
Another serving suggestion - you can roll the balls in any topping, fresh herbs, chopped nuts, dukkah – whatever takes your fancy.
