4/17

Kale Cobb Salad with Facon Vinaigrette

Food, Healthy, Meal Ideas, Salads, Veggie Based
By Emma Chapman

Kale cobb saladStill on my salad kick, as you can see. Here’s the deal, I’m going on a short vacation next month and I decided that until then, I’m working on a few goals which pretty much include: eat more salad, eat less (white) bread and refined sugar, and don’t bite my nails. Yes, it’s the sad truth: I’m nearly thirty years old and I still bite my nails. There have been periods when I quit before (one time I went three months!). But then I have a moment of weakness, I bite them all off, and then my nails look terrible for at least two weeks. It’s SO frustrating. 

My favorite chopped saladI digress. This post isn’t about nail biting (at least not entirely). It’s about a salad I’m obsessed with. I call this a Cobb salad, but it’s a pretty loose interpretation of one. So if you feel like that’s just blasphemy, then feel free to rename this in your mind as a kale-chopped-salad or whatever you like. Really you could add all sorts of ingredients on top of kale and spinach to make a version with whatever you have (just be sure to get some protein on there!). 

What I really love about this salad isn’t necessarily the salad itself, but rather the dressing. Oh yes, that isn’t a typo in the title. I’m using facon and I’m not sorry! I really don’t eat tons of “fake meat”, but when I do, I must admit that facon is one of my favorites. But I have a confession to make about that. Read on and you’ll see.

Kale Cobb Salad, serves 2.

3-4 oz. spinach
3-4 oz. kale
2-3 hard boiled eggs
6 oz. raspberries
15 oz. (canned) black beans
2 ripe avocados
2 oz. feta
2 strips facon
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 small shallot
1/3 cup olive oil
salt + pepper

First, cook the hard boiled eggs and allow to cool before use (you can easily do this ahead or make all the hard boiled eggs you need for the week at once).

Remove the thick veins from the kale and chop into small pieces. Toss with the spinach. Drain and rinse the beans. Assemble salad. 

The truth about faconSo here’s my confession about facon: I will only eat it if chopped up into facon bits first. I know, sort of weird. But I just think it sort of looks like… well… a dog toy. It tastes good, but it looks sort of hilarious. However, if you chop it up into bits, then no one will be the wiser. 🙂

To make the dressing, cook the facon in a little oil over medium heat until crispy on both sides. Chop into small bits. Also finely chop the shallot. In a bowl combine the vinegar, facon and shallot. While whisking, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking.

Spring cobb saladDrizzle the dressing over the salad and devour while the dressing is still a little warm—or at least that’s how I like it. Could be that I’m just impatient to eat though. 🙂 Happy salad days! xo. Emma

Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.

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Kale Cobb Salad

Servings 2

Ingredients

  • 3-4 oz. spinach
  • 3-4 oz. kale
  • 2-3 hard boiled eggs
  • 6 oz. raspberries
  • 15 oz. canned black beans
  • 2 ripe avocados
  • 2 oz. feta
  • 2 strips facon
  • 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1 small shallot
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • salt + pepper

Instructions

  1. First, cook the hard boiled eggs and allow to cool before use (you can easily do this ahead or make all the hard boiled eggs you need for the week at once).
  2. Remove the thick veins from the kale and chop into small pieces. Toss with the spinach. Drain and rinse the beans. Assemble salad.
  3. So here's my confession about facon: I will only eat it if chopped up into facon bits first. I know, sort of weird. But I just think it sort of looks like… well… a dog toy. It tastes good, but it looks sort of hilarious. However, if you chop it up into bits, then no one will be the wiser.
  4. To make the dressing, cook the facon in a little oil over medium heat until crispy on both sides. Chop into small bits. Also finely chop the shallot. In a bowl combine the vinegar, facon and shallot. While whisking, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and devour while the dressing is still a little warm—or at least that's how I like it.

37 Comments

  • I, on the other hand, can scarf down this facon like there’s not tomorrow. Never thought it looked like a dog toy until now….thanks a lot. This looks incredible — like all those Insta smoothie bowls but for salad. :]

    // http://www.itscarmen.com ▲

    Reply

  • i read that title fast when i first saw it, and i thought it was german (or another language i know nothing about.)
    i’m so uncultured. blah.
    none-the-less. salad looks great. will try!

    Reply

  • Hey Emma,

    Another trick I learned at an alternative culinary school was using shiitake mushrooms as vegetarian ‘bacon bits’. Thinly slice the shiitakes (1/8″ or smaller) and then toss in olive oil, salt, and a little pepper. Spread them over a lined baking sheet and roast for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees. You can toss them part way through for more even cooking. The result has an edge that is crispy and a center that retains that ‘fatty’ bacon-y texture. They are amazing and a perfect add-on for vegetarian dishes.

    Hope you try it! And that salad is beautiful!

    Reply

  • And now I’m hungry!!!

    DIY LUSH BATH BOMBS + DEMO // ROSE, GLITTER, NEBULA + COLOR CHANGING

    Reply

  • This sounds amazing! I’ve been trying to incorporate more kale into my diet recently, so this is perfect!

    Reply

  • A lot of the store bought bacon bits are actually vegan! They have absolutely no nutritional value, but if you check out the ingredients, most of them don’t contain animal products. I get them every once in a while for potato skins (forever favorite)!

    Reply

  • that looks like a delicious salad! Love the raspberries. I see adding fruit into salads seems to be a nice trend. I’ve had one recently with blood oranges. It was great.

    Visiting from BlogLovin. 🙂

    Reply

  • Love kale, this salad looks amazing. I don’t know if you’ve heard about massaging the kale before serving? Basically you put it in a bowl with olive oil and lemon juice and get your hands in there, massage it until it’s soft and glossy – it makes it so much nicer and easier to eat – it totally loses that dry springiness that it usually has.

    Reply

  • Oh my gosh YUM! Facon? That’s awesome. I love salads and will definitely be using this as inspiration for future salads 🙂

    doitfortheirony.com / Creative blog for the future obsessed.

    Reply

  • Mmm, your salad looks delicious, but what stood out is your goal not to nail bite. I know I am probably going to come off as weird and sales-y, but whatever. You so absolutely should try…just try jamberry nail wraps. I am a cuticle, hangnail ripper offer. Yeah, there is beauty in that. A friend gave me some jamberry wraps and 1…they are so fricking awesome and the patterns are adorable. 2…they are super strong and durable and last for a long time. 3…..they are fricking awesome and super easy to apply. 4……they look so pretty on that even if you could bite them you wouldn’t want to because they look so cute. I have not ripped off hangnails since I started wearing them.
    I will happily send anyone some to try if you want to try them……try them…..you might love them.
    http://www.hradcliffe.jamberrynails.net
    *I swear that I am not a creepy sales lady. These are just so awesome that I feel I am doing womankind a disservice if I don’t tell you how fabulous they are.

    Reply

  • I also bite my nails (30 yrs old) and my best advice is to paint them with nailpolish. Works for me because it tastes so discusting..

    Reply

  • I’ve heard that jamberry nail wraps have helped people kick their nail biting habits. Might be something to look into?

    Reply

  • This looks so yummy! I LOVE raspberries so this recipe is such a great alternative to how I usually eat them 🙂

    Reply

  • I’m more of a heritage pork bacon girl than facon, but I must say the raspberries on a “cob” salad is a great twist that I will be trying asap.

    Reply

  • Wow, this salad looks amazing! I’m going to try to make facon from tofu next week. Fingers crossed it’s going to be just as good as the ones you buy in the store, because those are delicious! Beautiful pictures also!

    Reply

  • Thanks Emma, love your salad posts. Already a keen salad eater and your posts inspire me to try new stuff. And berries, yummy!!

    Reply

  • this is exaaaaaactly what i needed. i’ve been trying to get healthier and taking a kale salad with me to lunch every day but it was getting super boring and i was starting to hate it. i’m pretty boring and simple with my salads. gonna hafta try this, just minus the egg (can’t stand egg yolk lol).

    Reply

  • THIS LOOKS DELICIOUS! I HAVE JUST PINNED THIS ON PINTEREST AND CANT WAIT TO TRY IT.
    HAVENT VISITED YOUR BLOG IN QUITE A WHILE BUT I LOVE THE NEW HEADER GIRLS!

    Reply

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