Cobb salad

The Story

For me, a Cobb salad is a way to feel like you’re eating healthy when all you’re craving is a bunch of bacon and blue cheese. Because you know, lettuce equals health, right? At the end of the day, the Cobb salad is a pretty simple salad composed of nicely dressed greens (I like to use a simple lemony mustardy dressing to compliment the other ingredients) topped with a bunch of toppings. It’s basically the Texas-style chili of the salad world. But anyway, I digress…

Supposedly, the Cobb salad was invented by Robert Howard Cobb of the Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles in the 1930s. It’s said that the restaurant owner put this salad together at the end of a long day using a variety of ingredients he had lying around. And boom, the Cobb salad was born. Nowadays it’s a good example of what is considered California cuisine…well-balanced dishes made with fresh in-season ingredients that don’t try too hard to be delicious (they don’t need to because the ingredients tend to speak for themselves).

The good thing about a salad like this is you can batch cook/prepare each of the ingredients (minus the avocado so you don’t have a bunch of brown cut-up avocado in your refrigerator) and use any leftovers for other dishes. Throw some grilled chicken into a different salad. Make leftover hard boiled eggs into deviled eggs of an egg salad. Toss leftover tomatoes and onions with some roasted vegetables to make my brown rice bowl with roasted vegetables and a fried egg. And let’s be real, if you’re craving this salad, you know you’re not going to have any leftover bacon or cheese!!

Difficulty: 1 on a scale of 1-5

Active time to prepare: 45 minutes

Total time to prepare: 45 minutes (includes time)

Serves: 5-6 (makes 10-12 toasts)

The Ingredients

For the dressing:

1 small shallot finely minced

Juice from 1 lemon

Salt and pepper

1 Tbsp./15 g mustard

1/4 cup/53 g olive oil

Optional: 1 tsp./2 g dried dill

For the salad:

2 chicken breasts

2 Tbsp./26 g Worcestershire sauce (if you live in Barcelona, I like the Sarson’s brand from A Taste of Home British supermarket)

1 Tbsp./15 g mustard

1 Tbsp./6 g paprika

8 slices bacon

1 head of your choice of lettuce (I like romaine or butter lettuce)

*NOte: I like to use a combination of softer lettuce like romaine mixed with the pepperiness of arugula

1 small red onion thinly sliced

For the assembly:

4 hard-boiled eggs (see my deviled egg recipe linked above for the method) cut in quarters

6 ounces/170 g grape tomatoes cut in quarters

1 large avocado cut into cubes

4 ounces/113 g blue cheese crumbled (don’t get the pre-crumbled kind…it’s always better to do this yourself)

The Recipe

For the dressing:

1. In a small bowl, add the minced shallot, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Set aside for 5 minutes to sit and marinade.

2. Add the mustard and dried dill to the bowl and mix.

3. Stream in the olive oil. Season more if needed.

For the salad:

1. Chicken: Combine the Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and paprika in a bowl. Season the marinade with salt and pepper. Marinade the chicken breast for an hour before grilling or searing in a pan. Cool, cut, and set aside.

2. Bacon: Place the bacon in a cold skillet over medium heat. Cook until crisp on both sides. Drain on a paper towel, cool, chop, and set aside.

   *NOTE: you can also cook bacon in a 205° C/400° F oven on a sheet pan in the oven for 10 - 20 minutes depending on how crisp you like your bacon if you prefer that method.

3. Lettuce: Tear or chop the lettuce into large pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry, and set aside.

4. Onion: Place the thinly sliced onion in a bowl and top with ice water. Let sit for 10 minutes to remove the harsh raw flavor. Drain, dry, and set aside.

Assembly:

1. Place the lettuce in a large bowl. Add enough dressing to lightly coat the leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Distribute amongst your serving plates/bowls.

2. Top with each ingredient in a line (like I did) or scattered randomly. Season all of the ingredients (minus the bacon, cheese, and chicken rows which should already be seasoned enough).

3. Drizzle with extra dressing.

DO AHEAD: You can cook/prep all of the toppings 1 or 2 days ahead and store in the fridge.

LEFTOVERS: Leftover ingredients will keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days in the fridge properly stored.