"Cobb-inspired" kale and grilled steak salad

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I've always loved Cobb salads, but never made one at home because, well, they just are not very creative. You can order a traditional Cobb salad at almost every American food bar/restaurant in the country.  But maybe that's because there's a certain genius to the ingredients - the freshness of the crisp lettuce, the saltiness of the chicken and bacon, balanced by the creaminess of the avocado, and the tang of blue cheese. And of course, the hard boiled egg for good measure. On a recent eventing, I was craving an avocado salad, but wanted it to be more filling. My mind went to Cobb salads, but then I started thinking how I could take the common salad and make it my own. 

My version has kale and arugula instead of the traditional iceberg or romaine. I roasted cherry tomatoes, grilled steak instead of chicken, used Roquefort - a type of stinky blue cheese, and topped the whole thing with a runny fried egg. I don't know about you guys, but I've recently come to the decision that few dishes don't taste better with a fried egg on top. I skipped the bacon, but don't skimp on my account! Add it if that's your thing. This salad is seriously awesome.

Ingredients (for two)

Kale + Arugula mixture (use best judgment of amount -depending on number of people serving)

1 pint container of cherry tomatoes 

1/4 cup Roquefort or blue cheese (crumbled)

6-8 oz Skirt steak

1 Avocado

2 Eggs

2-3 tsp butter

Salt & pepper

Garlic powder 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place cherry tomatoes in a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and garlic powder. Roast in oven for 20 minutes or until they burst from the touch of a fork. I used this really pretty pack of colorful heirloom tomatoes. 

While the tomatoes are roasting, remove the  kale from stems. Cut up kale and arugula into bite size pieces. Cut up the avocado and toss it into the greens. Then crumble up Roquefort - use sparingly b/c it's really strong- and toss into the mix.

Next cook the steaks. Drizzle skirt steak with a small amount of extra virgin olive oil or melted butted and salt & pepper on each side. Grill the skirt steaks on a hot grill pan over high heat - if you want to keep it medium rare, cook for about 3 minutes per side.

Pull steak off the grill and take the cherry tomatoes out of the oven. Let the steak sit on a cutting board to rest while you cook the eggs. It should rest for 6-8 minutes before you slice it. 

 

Using a small frying pan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter.  Add the egg and fry, flip, and fry- try to keep a sunny side up consistency.  Do only one egg per time and carefully  slide it onto a plate. I didn't put this on top of the salad because I wanted it to rest on top of all the ingredients at the end. 

At this point the tomatoes should be ready. Use a slotted spoon to remove the roasted tomatoes and place over the salad mixture. Reserve the tomato and olive liquid for dipping with good bread.

Then, slice steak and toss over the salad with the roasted cherry tomatoes. 

Beautiful, eh? Plate a generous portion of salad per plate and top with a fried egg.  With the amount of flavors and juices, you won't even need to add any additional dressing!