Yogurt cheese

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• Yogurt cheese is nothing more complicated than well-drained plain yogurt. It has a creamy, silky texture, and a flavor similar to cream cheese, though slightly more tangy. It can be spread on bagels, used to make fresh herbed cheese, or sweetened with sugar or honey and eaten with fruit or figs for a wonderful desert.

• 2 quarts plain non-fat yogurt, or a mixture of non-fat and whole-milk yogurt.

• Use plain yogurt that has no starch or gums added to it.

• Line a colander with a triple thickness of damp cheese-cloth. Put the yogurt into it and stand the colander in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 18-20 hours. Drain the liquid from the bowl and discard it once or twice in the course of this process.

• If you want an even thicker, denser cheese, pick up the 4 corners of the cheese-cloth, twist them together, then put a weight on top of the cheese and let it drain another few hours.

• 2 quarts of yogurt will yield about 2 1/2-3 cups of yogurt cheese, depending on how long you drain it.

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