Serves: 4

Let’s work backwards on this cracker of a toasted, late-night sandwich.

Labne.

Once you make this – and it could not be simpler – you will never do yoghurt again.

Take 500gm of Greek-style yoghurt and mix through a teaspoon of salt flakes. Pour it into a sieve lined with a muslin (or a Chux cloth) and set it over a pot. Leave it to hang over night.

Discard the liquid in the pot and store the thick Labne in a container in the fridge until needed.

Think of it like yoghurt spread.

For curries. For mince. For toast at breakfast.

A-mazing.

This toastie – which is pretty equally a-mazing – is from the cookbook Chefs Eat Toasties Too. (As someone working on a whole new category for this cooking blog titled Saturday Night Drunk, I recommend this cookbook highly. With a bit of afternoon preparation, that 11pm Saturday night “what’s in the fridge” craving will be well catered and everyone will think you are a genius.)

Either way, please give labne a go at a minimum.

It is awesome and so easy to make!

Ingredients

500gm Greek-style yoghurt
1 tsp salt flakes
1 brown onion finely diced
1 bird’s eye chilli, seeded and chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
50ml light olive oil
500hm minced lamb
1 tbsp tomato paste
500ml chicken stock
50gm pine nuts, toasted
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp allspice
3 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1 tbsp fresh Italian parsley leaves, chopped
80gm unsalted butter, softened
8 slices white bread

Method

1. Make the labne a day ahead. Mix the yoghurt with the salt and pour it into a sieve lined with a muslin (cheesecloth) set over a plastic container. Leave to hang overnight to extract all of the whey. Transfer the thick labne to a plastic container and store in the refrigerator until needed. Discard the whey.
2. In a large heavy-based saucepan, gently fry the onion, chilli and garlic in the oil for a few minutes over medium heat until translucent.
3. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the lamb; brown it off until all the juices have evaporated. Add the tomato paste and fry for another minute or so. Add the chicken stock to deglaze the pan; reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 10 minutes or until the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. Add the pine nuts, spices, herbs and mix well.
4. Preheat a jaffle maker. Butter one side of each of the slices of bread. Assemble the sandwiches directly in the jaffle maker. Place a bread slice, butter-side down in the jaffle maker and add 3-4 heaped tablespoons of the lamb mixture. Spread to just inside the edges of the bread and top with a bread slice, butter-side up.
5. Cook until the sandwiches are golden brown and sealed and serve with the labne as a spread.