6.16.2009

Suprême - Cheese of the Month


Purple Asparagus with Suprême Sauce

  • French 
  • Cow's milk 
  • Soft ripened 
  • White rind 
Sounds really good, like Brie, right? Not exactly. Suprême is enriched with crème fraîche. Produced in Burgundy since 1926, it was introduced in the 1930's under the name “Les Ducs” then by 1968 Suprême des Ducs was distributed internationally. If you are interested in wine pairing, by all means try a Red Burgundy! 

Suprême

Not to take anything away from Brie, Le Brie is King and one of my favorites, in fact, it will be Cheese of the Month in July, so please stop by then for some new Brie recipes. But here we are featuring the esoteric Suprême. Flavors that pair well with this cheese include hazelnut and roasted garlic. Please be sure to visit the Ile de France website for more recipes and information about Suprême.

Purple Asparagus with Suprême Sauce
Simmer the asparagus in boiling water with lemon juice.


Eighteen seconds later  (thanks to digital camera information) you can already see the purple is fading away. If you have your heart set on preserving the original purple color, I am afraid that you have to serve it raw. Which would of course be delicious, as noted in an earlier post, Grilled Purple Asparagus and Tofu, this variety is sweeter and less stringy than green asparagus.


Regular readers of Taste With The Eyes may have noticed that I am a crème fraîche aficionado, and since Suprême is made with it, I thought I would melt the cheese after removing the rind, and add a little crème fraîche to make a sauce. Squeeze some fresh lemon juice (and salt if desired) on the asparagus and ladle the Suprême sauce over. Voilà! Easy and elegant!


More Cheese of the Month!

Grilled Prosciutto Wrapped Escarole Stuffed with Suprême
Quarter a head of escarole keeping the bottom stem intact. Drizzle with your favorite (or mine, see below) Dijon Vinaigrette. Place a slice of Suprême in the center of the escarole. Wrap with prosciutto.

Jacques Pepin's Vinaigrette in a Jar
  • 2 tsp chopped garlic
  • 3 Tbs Dijon-style mustard
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
  • 1/4 c red or white wine vinegar
  • 1 c extra virgin olive oil
Put all ingredients in a jar, screw on the lid, and shake very well.

Grill over medium high heat, turning, until the prosciutto gets crispy, the cheese starts to melt, and the escarole begins to char and wilt. Serve with extra vinaigrette on the side.

Great starter for an alfresco grilling party!


Suprême, Roasted Garlic, 
Grilled Escarole and Japanese Eggplant Sandwich
The ultimate veggie sandwich! There is so much going on here you won't miss the meat. It is smokey and garlicky, rich and creamy, slightly bitter (in a good way) from the escarole, and silky and toasty...

Lightly brush the escarole with olive oil. Grill over medium high heat, turning until slightly charred and slightly wilted.

Grilling Japanese Eggplant. 
The long slender shape makes it perfect to fit the rolls.
More about eggplant here.

Brush a halved roll with hazelnut oil and grill until toasty. Spread warm roasted garlic cloves on one half, sliced Suprême on the other half. The warm bread will start to melt the cheese.

Top each side with grilled Japanese eggplant and grilled escarole respectively. Sprinkle with sea salt to taste.

A Supremely Flavorful Sandwich.

Thank you to Ile de France for introducing us to Suprême!