Secrets of the Chef- The Sherwood

Now I bang on about The Sherwood because well it’s stupendous. I’ve literally dragged half the town there for dinner, breakfast, ping-pong (did you know they have a ping-pong table?). So when I demanded a recipe for my ‘Secrets’ section Ainsley (chef and all round amazing woman in the kitchen) gave me a right corker.

Feast your eyes on this people. Thank you Ainsley and The Sherwood again for just being born.

Sherwood “Fruit Salad”

Sherwood Summer fruit salad…. the Watties tinned variety gets a makeover here at The Sherwood! I popped out to Glenvale Orchards on Friday and picked 3 glorious varieties of cherries: New York (white!!!), Dawson and Santina. These inspired the January salad which is:

Strawberries
Cherries
Saba or Vincotto (Old school Southern Italian condiment made by reducing unfermented Grape juice to half way between Verjus and Balsamic, available at Raeward Fresh) and Labneh (Yoghurt Cheese)

We get our lovely Lemon Labneh from Daniel and Sarah at Kaikoura Cheese, but have this week had a crack at making our own … Rob’s first attempt was delicious!

Here’s our recipe:

2 Cups of Yoghurt (we use homemade but any plain unsweetened greek yoghurt will work)
1/2 Cup nice Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Lemon Zest
Glass Jar with lid

Line a large sieve with cheese-cloth; set over a medium deep bowl.

Place yogurt in sieve. Gather edges of cheesecloth to cover yogurt.

Let drain for 2-3 days.

Gently squeeze out any excess liquid;

Discard liquid in bowl (yogurt will be very thick).

pour the oil and lemon Zest into the jar.

Roll yogurt into little balls. Pop in the jar.

Seal with a lid.

Place in refrigerator and let marinate for 8 hours. They will keep for up to 2 weeks.
You can also whisk herbs, spices and salt and pepper into the oil if you’d like to make savoury Labneh. Yum!

Dani one of our stunning waitpeople was once employed as the lady who put the cherry in the watties fruit salad tins! It seems only fitting to dedicate this cherry salad to her!!
Ainsley Rose Thomson