The Cobb Salad is a dish that when done right, is perfection, and when not right, is terrible. Here’s how to do it the right way. It takes a minute to do all the steps (you gotta cook the bacon, boil the eggs, cut up everything), but you can do most of it ahead and just keep it in the fridge. The kids were able to pick off what they wanted, so they liked it, too, even though they made a mess of the beautiful salad!
Classic Cobb Salad (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
For the dressing (you won’t need all of this for this recipe, save the rest for another salad)
3/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper, to taste
For the salad:
1/2 head iceberg lettuce, chopped
1/2 head romaine lettuce, chopped
2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled (I used Roquefort)
6 strips cooked bacon, roughly chopped
3 hard-boiled eggs, cut into cubes
1 pint cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded (use a deli rotisserie to save time)
1 avocado, cubed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Combine the canola oil, olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, Worcestershire, sugar, and garlic in a blender to make the dressing. Puree the ingredients and season with salt and pepper. Set the dressing aside.
On a large platter, combine the lettuces. Arrange the blue cheese, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, chicken, and avocado on top of the greens in neat rows. To serve, drizzle salad with dressing, season with salt and pepper.
