Labneh breakfast plate

Before you start

• start the labneh the night before — it drains 12 hours
• muslin, a clean tea towel or a coffee filter, and a bowl to hang it over

Ingredients

Serves 2 · dimmer marks are storecupboard

• 500gnatural yoghurt — full fat — nothing else sets thick
• 2pita breads
• 1 tbspolive oil
• 20ggreen olives
• 200gcucumber and tomatoes
• 1 tbspza'atar
• 1 handfulmint
• to tastesalt

Method

5 steps

1. fold · 3m

   Salt the yoghurt — about a teaspoon to a 500g tub — and stir it right through. The salt is what pulls the whey out; unsalted, it drains to a sulk and stays loose.

2. rest · 12 hours walk away

   Tipped into muslin over a bowl, corners tied, and left in the fridge. Twelve hours gives something spreadable; a full day gives labneh firm enough to roll into balls.

3. chop · 5m

   Cucumber into thick half-moons, tomatoes into wedges, mint torn rather than cut.

4. grill · 3m

   Pita on a dry hot pan until it puffs up and blisters in patches.

5. finish · 4m

   Spread thick on a cold plate, a well pressed into it with the back of a spoon, olive oil pooled in the well, za'atar over, olives and salad alongside.