By sautéing the fried leek in lots of oil first, you get rid of all the moisture at the beginning. Afterwards, the leek will crisp up in the oil and get nice and chewy. That’s exactly what we want with our creamy Labneh.

If you were to fry the leek immediately, raw, you would never get them as crispy as we like them. Plus, we want the flavor of the fried leek in our oil, too. When the oil has cooled down, we re-use it to to finish the Labneh plate.

Cut the green of the leek into coarse strands of about five inches long.

Sauté the leek in lots of olive oil and let all the water evaporate.

Keep stirring until the water has evaporated and the leek begins to fry.

Pour the fried leek through a sieve and be sure to collect the leek oil. While still warm, lay the leek out to dry on some kitchen paper. If you didn’t do so during the stewing, you can now add a little bit of salt to the leeks. Allow the leek and leek oil to cool.

Spread the Labneh from our Zuivelarij on a plate and make a dimple (or a trench) in it for the leek oil. Top with the oil and fried leek and serve with tasty sourdough bread. We used finely chopped kumquats here but you could just as easily use some shaved or imposed lemon.

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