Yogurt Labneh & Roasted Pepper Swirls
Allergen lists cover the priority allergens in the recipe as written. Always check your own ingredient labels, and introduce each new allergen on its own first.
Ingredients
- 500 g (2 cups) full-fat pasteurised plain yogurt, live cultures, unsweetened
- 1 large red bell pepper (about 160 g)
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp (5 ml) lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 6 soft steamed courgette or sweet potato batons, for serving
Method
- 1. Line a sieve with a clean muslin or a double layer of kitchen paper, spoon in the yogurt, set over a bowl and refrigerate 8-12 hours (or overnight) until it thickens into a soft, spreadable labneh. Keep it in the fridge the whole time, never on the counter. Discard the whey. This straining is hands-off and sits on top of the prep time.
- 2. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Roast the whole pepper for 20-25 minutes until the skin blisters and the flesh collapses.
- 3. Cover the pepper in a bowl for 10 minutes, then peel off ALL the skin — pepper skin is thin and slippery and does not break down in the mouth — and discard the stem and every seed.
- 4. Mash or blend the peeled pepper flesh to a completely smooth purée.
- 5. Fold the pepper purée through the labneh in loose swirls, then stir in the olive oil, lemon juice and oregano. Do not add salt.
- 6. Steam the courgette or sweet potato batons for 8-12 minutes until they squash easily between thumb and forefinger, cool to lukewarm, and spread the swirl thinly over them just before serving.
How to serve by age
6–8 months
Spread a thin 2-3 mm layer over steamed courgette or sweet potato batons cut finger-length, about 8-9 cm long and about 2 cm wide — roughly an adult finger's width — so baby can grip one in a whole-hand palmar grasp with the coated end sticking up out of the fist. Never offer the labneh in a thick spoonful-sized glob.
9–12 months
Cut the coated batons into 1 cm pea-sized pieces, or offer small dollops the size of a pea on the tray, so baby can pick them up one at a time using the pincer grasp between thumb and forefinger.
Paediatric note
Straining yogurt into labneh concentrates the protein, calcium and vitamin B12 by removing water, making it a good calcium hit in a small volume for babies with modest appetites — but only use pasteurised yogurt, as unpasteurised dairy carries a listeria and E. coli risk that infants are especially vulnerable to. Strain it in the fridge rather than at room temperature, since a live-culture dairy food left out for 8-12 hours is an ideal medium for unwanted bacteria. The vitamin C in the roasted pepper does not boost calcium absorption directly, but it does help the body absorb the plant iron eaten alongside it in the same meal.
Source guidance: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/feeding-nutrition/Pages/default.aspx
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