Fig and Arugula Salad with Shiitake Bacon
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Fig and Arugula Salad with Shiitake Bacon
serves 4
Figs provide an interesting sweetness to this balsamic dressing. This salad can be modified for a lot of diets: Add white beans or chickpeas for a vegan lunch, seared halloumi or feta for vegetarian, or seared steak or roasted chicken for a paleo or paleo AIP meal. (Skip the smoked paprika for AIP and try smoked salt instead with less coconut aminos.) And before you get on my case, no this shiitake isn’t really at all like bacon, but it is smoky, salty, crispy and a little sweet and provides a similar potent bite to a salad.
salad:
generous drizzles of avocado oil
3.5 ounce shiitakes, stemmed and sliced into 1/4” slices
4 teaspoons coconut aminos
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
4 sweet potatoes, sliced into 1/4” half-moons
12 misson figs, thinly sliced
5 ounces baby arugula
salt
fig vinaigrette:
2 mission figs, chopped
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt
Preheat oven to 350. Toss shiitakes with 2 teaspoons of avocado oil plus the coconut aminos, and smoked paprika. Bake shiitakes on a parchment lined sheet tray for 30-35 minutes until dark, glazed, and slightly crispy. Remove to cool and they will crisp up a little more. (I actually made these in my toaster oven so I could cook my sweet potatoes at the same time.)
Preheat oven to 425. Drizzle the sweet potatoes with avocado oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast on a parchment0lined sheet tray for 30 minutes.
Make vinaigrette: in a blender combine figs, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and salt and blend until smooth.
Assemble salads: combine arugula, roasted sweet potatoes, sliced figs and shiitake bacon. Toss with vinaigrette.
