Healthy, yummy Cobb salad without bacon and cheese
Shiitake mushrooms and smoked paprika add flavour
Stunning presentation aside, Cobb salad has all the markers of a powerhouse meal, including eggs, avocados, tomato and lean chicken — we just had to do something about all that bacon and cheese.
We were sad to sacrifice bacon’s smoky flavour until we tried sautéing shiitake mushrooms with smoked paprika and chili powder. Now we had smokiness and even some umami meatiness without the saturated fat and preservatives. Using kale in place of romaine upped the nutritional ante, and radicchio contributed beautiful colour.
For the dressing, just a bit of blue cheese whisked with yogurt, garlic and lemon juice provided the tangy blue cheese flavour we expected. We tossed some with our greens and drizzled the rest over our still-classic, yet mindfully updated, Cobb salad.
Super Cobb Salad
Makes 6 servings
8 ounces organic boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of all visible fat and cut into 1⁄2-inch pieces Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons expeller-pressed canola oil 10 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced thin 1⁄8 tsp smoked paprika 1⁄8 tsp chili powder
8 ounces kale, stemmed and cut into 1-inch pieces (8 cups)
1⁄3 cup finely chopped red onion 1 tablespoon lemon juice
3⁄4 cup organic plain low-fat yogurt
3 tbsp crumbled blue cheese
1 garlic clove, minced
1⁄2 small head radicchio (3 ounces), cored and cut into 1⁄2-inch pieces
3 hard-cooked large organic eggs, quartered
1 avocado, halved, pitted, and cut into
1⁄2-inch pieces
6 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved
Start to finish: 45 minutes
Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through, four to six minutes. Transfer to plate and let cool.
Heat remaining 1 teaspoon oil in now-empty skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add mushrooms and ¼ teaspoon of salt, cover, and cook until mushrooms have released their liquid, four to six minutes. Uncover and increase heat to medium-high. Stir in paprika, chili powder, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and cook until mushrooms are golden, four to six minutes. Transfer to second plate and let cool.
Place kale in large bowl and cover with warm tap water (110 to 115 F). Swish kale around to remove grit. Let kale sit in warm water bath for 10 minutes. Remove kale from water and spin dry in salad spinner in multiple batches. Pat leaves dry with paper towels if still wet.
Toss onion with 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and set aside.
Whisk yogurt, blue cheese, garlic, remaining 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, and ¼ teaspoon of salt together in bowl until well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Toss kale and radicchio with ½ cup of dressing to coat. Transfer to serving platter and mound in even layer. Arrange cooled mushrooms, onion, eggs, avocado and tomatoes in single, even rows over greens, leaving space at either end. Arrange half of chicken in each open space at ends of platter. Drizzle remaining dressing over salad. Serve.
Per serving: 223 calories (108 calories, or 48 per cent from fat); 12 grams fat (3 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 125 milligrams cholesterol; 322 mg sodium; 12 g carbohydrate; 5 g fibre; 4 g sugar; 19 g protein.