The star
Ile de France Aperifrais
France · 100g (5g a piece)
Same cheese, different things on it
The green tub and the red one hold the same cheese. Same range, same ingredients.
Tasting the cheese itself, I couldn't tell them apart. All that changes is what sits on top.
Herbs point to the green tub, tomato and oregano to the red one.
- The cheese - 80% milk, cream, salt, cultures
- What sits on top - vegetables, herbs, peppercorns
- Taste and texture - unaged, mild and well salted, melting like cream
Provence - the green tub
Provence is herb country, enough that there is a spice blend named after it. This tub goes the same way: red bell pepper, then basil, thyme and chives.
Some pieces come with whole peppercorns cracked on top. If you like pepper, this is the one.
Cote d'Azur - the red tub
Cote d'Azur is the stretch of Mediterranean coast running east from Provence, and this tub leans on vegetables: bell pepper, tomato, onion and garlic, with oregano, basil and parsley minced fine over the top.
Nothing here needs a knife
All you take out is a plate. Arrange the pieces on it without crowding. Leave a little room between the pieces and everyone helps themselves easily.
Anything you set beside them works well.
The one thing worth doing ahead is taking them out of the fridge half an hour before, because cold fat holds the aroma down.
Whatever is left goes back into the tub it came in, lid on.
What to drink with it
An aperitif is the drink before dinner rather than with it, and this cheese is one of the things you put out for it. It is well salted and there are 31g of fat in every 100g, so it lingers, and what works is whatever cuts through that. A sparkling white does it especially well, and a still one with real acidity does the same job — a sauvignon blanc sort of thing.
It doesn't have to be wine, either. What cuts through fat is the bubbles and the acidity rather than the alcohol, so sparkling water does the same work, and a wedge of lemon puts the acidity back. Strong tea or coffee sits in the same place.
It also works on a cracker
Straight from the tub is fine, but there is room to do a little more when you feel like it.
If you want one thing alongside, make it a plain cracker. Anything with herbs or cheese baked into it can cover the taste of the cheese.
Set one piece on a cracker and press it flat with a fork or the back of a spoon.
Put one thing you already have on top - an olive, a cherry tomato.
Good to have alongside
Fruit alongside
Grapes or figs go on the plate beside them.
You can also cut a cucumber into rounds and set a piece on each.
The cheese is well salted, and fruit and cucumber are fresh against it.
This is where a cheese board starts
A cheese board sounds like it has to be a spread of different cheeses, and one day yours might be. Not the first one. Put them on a plate, add whatever you already have alongside, and you are done. There is nothing to prepare, so tonight will do.