Cobb Salad

Yum, Cobb Salad. One of my all-time favorites. Ever. Anything with avocado and cheese pretty much does it for me. The only problem with Cobb Salad is it’s probably not the healthiest salad out there for you because of the cheese and bacon. I refuse to blame anything on avocado. The Cobb Salad I am showing you here is bacon-less, so I chose to believe it is low fat. Oh, all right, LOWER in fat than the alternative….

All three of my children have been sick for the better part of the last week and a half, so I am definitely running on fumes. On days like today the last thing I want to do is make dinner, but who else is going to? If you discover the answer to that question, please pass that information along, as it would be so very helpful! I checked my refrigerator and discovered some grilled chicken from the other night, and a whole lot of chopped romaine lettuce and voila! I knew what to make….

Ah, yes, but first I need to give credit where credit is due. I have these awesome glass containers

from Crate and Barrel that I store produce and other leftovers in. When I get home from the grocery store I usually will wash and cut-up any fruit and vegetables that need to be cut-up and put them in these handy-dandy containers. These glass containers enable me to look in my refrigerator and actually know what is in my refrigerator. It also is so helpful on a day like today to have all my souse-chef work already taken care of in the way of chopped vegetables etc.

This afternoon the light bulb above my head went off as I laid my eyes upon the fabulous glass containers housing a few ingredients for Cobb Salad. I ran to the store and picked up a beautiful Haas avocado and some crumbled blue cheese, because luckily I had all of the few remaining ingredients waiting for me in my refrigerator.  Yes, in glass containers.

First, I hard-boiled three eggs and let them cool. I grabbed large bowls for salad- the largest I could find to make beautifully, bountiful Cobb Salad. I filled the bowls with the chopped romaine chopped width-wise into thin-ish strips. I then chopped my grilled chicken into small cubes and placed them on top of the salad in their own triangular section. I chopped up some tomatoes and added them to the top of the salad in their own section adjacent to the chicken. Next I chopped up the avocado and added them to the salad, again in their own section. I squeezed a little fresh lemon juice on top of the avocado to keep them looking pretty and green. I may or may not have added extra avocado to my salad bowl. I then added about a tablespoon and a half of crumbled blue cheese to the top of the salad in it's own section next to the tomatoes. Any cheese really will work in this salad. Some other cheeses commonly used would be gorgonzola, cheddar, but really any cheese will do. It’s your salad after all!  Once the eggs were cooled I peeled them and chopped them finely and added them the salad in the final remaining section. I sprinkled a pinch of salt & a pinch of pepper on top of the salad and then I sat back and admired that beautiful salad. Of course, then I remembered I needed to make a salad dressing! I quickly “whisked-up” a balsamic vinaigrette 3/4 cup good quality olive oil, 3 tbsp good quality balsamic vinegar, 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, a little salt & pepper and a little squirt of fresh lemon juice. Do what you will with your salad dressing, I don’t like to add too much to the salad myself; just enough to moisten up the salad a tad. And that’s it! Now in Julia Child’s voice,  “Bon Appetit!”

Side note: I also made a quick Boboli Pizza (you know the store-bought crust and sauce, a little shredded mozzarella) and my 8-year old suggested I add the extra Cobb Salad fixings to it (enough for two slices), so I did. I threw the extra chicken and blue cheese on top of the pizza and popped it into the over. Once it was out I added the egg and avocado. My son gobbled it up, so I’m guessing it was good.