Even after 20 years as cheesemongers, we sometimes fail to mature certain cheeses properly, and we have to remove them from our range. It happened to me recently with Epoisses. They became hard, and there was no way to soften them. We tried everything, and nothing worked. But throwing them away was out of the question; it would have been a shame, because these Epoisses still retained all their nutritional value. I used them in a delicious vegetable gratin.
I blanched chard, carrots, and cauliflower, cooking them "al dente" rather than too soft. At the same time, I prepared a béchamel sauce and preheated my oven to 200 degrees Celsius. I also thawed two frozen salmon fillets from Ikea and diced them.
First, place the salmon cubes in an oval Ballarini ovenproof dish, then arrange the vegetables on top, pour the béchamel sauce over them, and finally, coarsely grate the Epoisse sauce over them. Bake for a quarter of an hour, and you're done. Enjoy!
Sorry for the poor quality of the photos (old iPhone).
