I have always been mesmerized by Cobb Salads. With those colorful rows of perfectly arranged, freshly chopped, salad ingredients. Bright red tomatoes, shiny black olives, fresh chopped onions, succulent avocados and more.
Of course, if you are familiar with "the Cobb" you know that it is anything but vegan. It usually contains such cubed ingredients as eggs, chicken, bacon and cheese. So instead of whimper at not being able to order the Cobb Salad on another menu - I decide to make my own. Meet The Vegan Cobb!
My Vegan Cobb. Luscious green avocados, sweet mandarin oranges, perky cherry tomatoes, sweet Vidalia onions, smoky tempeh bacon bits - and even a clever little way to fake hard-boiled eggs. Make it tonight!..
Egg - less. So you know those white and yellow hard-boiled egg cubes that always end up on the Cobb? Well I considered simply doing a tofu cube. But I though of an even snazzier option: Zesty Turmeric Hearts of Palm! Not only does this fake the egg thing quite well, it tasted delish!
Cobb Fun Fact - How the Cobb Came to Be: "Cobb was the owner of the famous Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood. Legend has it that Cobb was strolling through the restaurant kitchen late one night probably in 1936, hungry, and started pulling things off the shelves and out of the refrigerators — avocado, tomato, lettuce, cold chicken, hard-boiled egg, bacon, Roquefort cheese, etc. (the ingredients vary a bit, depending on which legend you follow) — and put together quite a nice salad. The ingredients were chopped into a fine dice, arranged in stripes on top of the lettuce, and dressed with French dressing." -www.ochef.com/858.htm
Tempeh Bacon Bits on top..
The Vegan Cobb
makes one giant big bowl
6 cups of chopped fresh spinach - or another salad green for the base
1 cup mandarin oranges, drained
⅓ cup sliced black olives
½ cup chopped sweet onion - tossed in black pepper
1 avocado, chopped - tossed in the juice of 1 large lemon
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
¾ cup tempeh bacon bits - recipe here
1 cup chilled kidney beans, drained
1 cup hearts of palm (diced) - tossed in ⅛ teaspoon turmeric + 1 teaspoon olive oil + 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar + 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
To Make:
1. Toss your spinach in a light salad dressing - only if serving immediately. If your Cobb will sit for a while, leave greens undressed.
2. For your hearts of palm - only toss half of them in the yellow turmeric mix. This way you will have half white and half yellow. Just like an egg would look. Continue assembling salad - add all your ingredients in thin rows across the top.
3. Serve! I like this salad with a generous drizzle of my Vegan Ranch Dressing. or you can use the traditional Cobb Salad dressing - which is zesty french. Yum!
Happy Cobb-ing!
