Cheesy Lunch at Home

Today for lunch, I had a spinach salad and some couscous.

They were both very, very simple. I think salad should be about the greens, not the dressing, so I don't usually use any dressing at all. If I do, it's a splash of olive oil and salt, or Annie's Shitake Vinaigrette. But today, nothing. I added some strawberries and cheese to the spinach to make it a little more substantial.

The cheese was a cave-aged Swiss gruyere I got on sale last week at Whole Foods. I'm still ambivalent about it. I normally buy a different cave-aged gruyere that has a really nice nutty-toasted flavor, with some sweet and floral undertones- I don't recall the brand. Sometimes I buy Le Gruyere, which is even cheaper and almost as good as my regular kind. But this stuff looked very funky and crumbly, and was normally super-expensive, so I was curious. It lacks the nutty flavor I love, and has that slightly musty sweat-sock-ammonia smell common to certain aged and blue cheeses. The first time I tried it, I hated it. It's growing on me, but it's still nothing like what I imagine when I think of "gruyere".

I topped the whole-wheat couscous with some shredded gruyere and sea salt. The starch cuts the pungent cheese to a more manageable level of funkiness. Not a bad lunch.