Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Stone Fruit Compote and Honey Labne Parfait



Last year, my good friend Mikell introduced me to Labne, a thick, silky and delicious Middle Eastern style yogurt(very similar to Greek yogurt). It is commonly used as a spread or dip for bread. It's a good low fat alternative to cheese. I also saw labne make an appearance on my dinner plate at one of Boston's high end restaurants last week. I recently created a labne parfait as the curtain raiser for last Sunday's brunch. I flavored the labne with honey and cardamom. My hubby loved it. This is a yogurt parfait for two:

For the fresh stone fruit compote:
2 peaches stoned, peeled and diced into small cubes
3 plums stoned, peeled and diced into small cubes
1/3 cup of tropical orange juice( I used a guava, mango and pineapple cocktail juice)
1 teaspoon of fresh orange zest( just the orange part -- the white part is very bitter)
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract(Bourbon or Tahitian)
1 -2 teaspoons of sugar

Bring everything to a gentle simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes until fruit is tender.

For the Labne with honey:

1 cup of Labne
6 green cardamom pods in a tea filter paper
3-4 tablespoons of honey
1/2 cup of milk

Combine the Labne, honey and milk. Steep the cardamom "tea" in yogurt. Refrigerate overnight and remove cardamom tea bag before serving. Put some fruit compote in a serving glass and then top it off with some Labne. Bon appetit.

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