Salad of tomatoes, nectarines and labneh with chermoula recipe

Fruits (peaches, nectarines, mangoes) are great with tomatoes, especially when there is lemon or lime juice or fish sauce in the mix.

Prep time: 15 minutes, plus overnight straining

SERVES

Six

INGREDIENTS

• 450g Greek yogurt

• 1 garlic clove, grated to a purée

• 2 large just-ripe nectarines

• 400g tomatoes, different shades of red if possible

• 10g bunch coriander

• 1½ tbsp white balsamic vinegar

• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

For the chermoula

• 1½cm cube of ginger, peeled and grated

• ¼ tsp sweet paprika

• 1 medium-sized red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

• Finely grated zest and juice of ½ lemon (you might want more juice)

• 2 garlic cloves, grated to a purée

• 20g bunch coriander, stalks discarded, leaves finely chopped

• 1 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

• 6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

METHOD

1. Make the labneh the day before you want to serve the dish. Line a sieve with a piece of cheesecloth (or a new J-cloth) and set it over a bowl. Put the yogurt in the cloth and refrigerate for 24 hours. The yogurt will lose moisture, leaving you with a cheese-like substance. Help it along by giving it a squeeze every so often.

2. Remove the drained yogurt from the cloth. Season with salt and pepper and add the garlic. Store in a container that you can cover.

3. Mix together the chermoula ingredients in a bowl with some seasoning. Taste for balance.

4. Halve and stone the nectarines and cut each half into four or five slices. Quarter the larger tomatoes (or cut into six or eight, depending on their size) and halve the smaller ones. Remove the leaves from the coriander (leave them whole) and discard the stalks.

5. Toss the tomatoes and the nectarines in a bowl with the balsamic and extra-virgin olive oil and season. Arrange them on a serving plate and dot chunks of the labneh in among the sliced fruit, scattering with the coriander leaves. Spoon over the chermoula and serve.