Now that the weather is heating up and local produce is getting cheaper, I figured it a vegan cobb salad would be just the thing. This really hit the spot today for lunch. It’s delicious, fresh, and filling.
Traditional cobb salad (ick) contains eggs, bacon, chicken, and blue cheese along with lettuce and onions. Mostly it’s just gross, obesity and heart attack causing animal flesh and secretions on some greens, no thanks. Reminds me of this meme I made:
Eating corpses, tit milk, and hen periods is gross t shirt by kimisms
Make your own custom shirts at zazzle.com
Cobb salad in theory is great though, and of course it’s very customizable, so that is why this one tops a bed of purple and green lettuce with quinoa, pan-fried asparagus, avocado, cucumber, and veggie meat (actually Field Roast Lentil Sage deli slices fried in oil, soy sauce, and maple syrup) with homemade red wine vinaigrette dressing.
Vegan Cobb Salad Ingredients
Makes 3 large salads
6 cups lettuces or lettuce blend, romaine, dark lettuce, etc., torn into bite size pieces. I used Artisan Lettuce pack from ALDI
1 avocado, seeded, peeled, and cubed
1 whole cucumber, peeled and cubed
Veggie meat of your choice or beans (rinse if canned)
Asparagus, pan-fried or roasted
1/2 cup quinoa cooked in 3/4 cup vegetable broth
Directions:
1. Bring 3/4 cup of vegetable broth to a soft boil on the stove while washing 1/2 cup of quinoa in a fine sieve or cheesecloth. Washing helps to prevent the bitter taste of saponin, which quinoa is coated in until you wash it. Add washed quinoa, turn heat to low, and cover with pot lid.
2. While the quinoa cooks, fry the asparagus. Heat 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil (I used corn oil) in a wide pan on medium high heat. Add chopped asparagus and fry for about 7 minutes while quinoa cooks, tossing gently every two minutes or so. Add salt to taste.
3. Once asparagus is finished, check quinoa for doneness. Meaning, taste it. If it’s hard, put the cover back on and let it steam a few more minutes. When quinoa is fluffy and appears to have little tails, it is ready to eat. Empty the asparagus in a bowl and put it aside. Use the same pan to fry or reheat the veggie meat of your choice. Gardein or Beyond Meat chicken would also be good, or try tofu. Or skip veggie meat altogether and add another vegetable, such as roasted or pickled beets. It’s up to you.
3. Make a layer of lettuce in the bottom of 3 salad bowls — a large, flat bowl works the best — and add stripes of cucumber, asparagus, avocado. Your quinoa should be done by now, so add a stripe of that along with a stripe of veggie meat.
4. Make the dressing and serve it on the side. Dressing recipe follows:
Basic Vinaigrette for Vegan Cobb Salad
Ingredients:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar or any vinegar, such as champagne, ACV, balsamic, whatever
1/2 cup oil (I used olive oil)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup any color miso OR 2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard or 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons sweetener (I used sugar) or to taste
1 clove garlic
Dressing directions
Add all ingredients to blender and blend until garlic bits are no longer visible. Serve on the side of Vegan Cobb Salad.