It’s Grilling Season, everyone! Other than Turkey Day Season, My Birthday Season, and Olympic Season, it’s my favorite. How amazing when it’s your place that makes the whole neighborhood smell so good? Perhaps you like to grill fat, juicy steaks, or large slices of cauliflower with a good shake of smoked paprika and lemon. Maybe you’re thing is the low and slow grilling of a pork shoulder and grilled peaches painted with butter and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar for dessert. Whatever your cooking over fire, Labneh can be your best friend. Labneh, a Middle Eastern invention (thank you!!), is basically a superrich, creamy, tangy yogurt. I have become fully dependent on Labneh I use it on all sorts of dishes – it is my cheese swiss army knife. For that cauliflower, for example, it could probably use a lemony, olive oily dipping sauce, so just stir a good few squeezes of lemon juice into a scoop of Labneh, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dip away, my friends! Labneh mixed with the wonderfully spicy Korean pepper paste, gochujang, is an awesome sauce for a pulled pork sandwich. Go sweet with those peaches and add a cooling dollop of Labneh right when they come off the grill.

Need a snack while you’re working hard over the hot barbeque? Of course you do! Try Labneh with a lot, and I mean A LOT, of the Japanese spice blend, furikake, sprinkled over the top. It’s one of my favorite “making dinner” snacks with carrots and bell peppers and pretzels. Snacking while making dinner is one of my great joys in life, and if you haven’t tried it, I recommend it. Extra points if you also have some sort of summery drink as well. So next time you have the grill fired up, have a pint of Labneh on hand. And maybe a pint of beer as well.

For the love of cheese and especially multipurpose cheese,

Kiri 

Update: I am continuing to email various restaurants and organizations around the country looking for Black American cheesemakers. While I’m searching, I come across some really cool stuff. I’m currently drooling over these jams from Trade Street Jam Co. I’m definitely buying the Rose Plum and the Smoked Peach jams for myself when they’re back in stock. I’m excited to try these with, you guessed it, Labneh!