I made these little cheese balls for a gaming night last week, and thought they were a terrific hors d’oeuvre. They have a nice tang without tasting too yogurty, and the texture is soft and creamy like chevre. The marinade is fragrant with garlic and dill, and there’s a rustic elegance to the look of white cheese swimming in herb-infused oil. Because of the delicate texture, I couldn’t quite get them to be perfectly spherical, but I think they are supposed to be a little rough - perfection is overrated, anyway, right? The recipe takes hardly any effort at all and is very inexpensive to make…although it does require at least 24 hours of planning ahead so the yogurt has time to drain.
The little guys are pretty versatile, too…I look forward to flavoring them with olives, za’atar, roasted cumin, red peppers…use your imagination! On Leite’s Culinaria, where I originally found the recipe, someone suggested just making a dip with the drained yogurt instead of forming balls, which is a good idea if you’re in a rush and is somewhat of a more traditional preparation of yogurt cheese. The balls do look quite nice for parties, though, and the flavorful leftover oil is a tasty bread dip in its own right.