Cobb
Out
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Cobb Salad Ingredients |
When I first
start researching Cobb Salad, I took one look at the qualifying ingredients and
thought:
"Too much
stuff! This'll never work!"
And then I tried
it and fell in love.
It's got
everything one would want in a salad: loads of protein, crunchy veggies, and
creamy elements, all tied together with a classic tangy dressing.
In order to be a
considered a Cobb Salad, it must have Chicken, Bacon, Blue Cheese, Avocado,
some kind of Salad Green or Greens, and Tomatoes. The cook can add any other
ingredients and it will still qualify as a Cobb Salad. The dressing, near as I
can tell, is up to the cook, though a red wine vinegar and olive oil dressing seems to be traditional.
Although most
salads can be served as either appetizer, meal, or side dish, depending on the
quantity, I find Cobb Salad is best served as a meal given how complete it is.
I thought about
doing two versions of this salad but after looking at several recipes to get a
feel for the common ingredients, I realised that this is one of those salads
that really doesn't need much tweaking, so I opted to keep my version as simple
as possible.
Serves 4 people.
Here's
How You Do It
Ingredients
1 Head of Iceberg Lettuce - Rinsed and
cut into bite size pieces. Iceberg lettuce gets a bum rap as being bland and
not particularly nutritious. It's actually crunchy, refreshing, low in
cholesterol, and a great source of Iron, Fiber, and Vitamins A and C, just to name
a few. Kids love it, too.
1 Skinless, Boneless Chicken Breast -
these are pricey, but one is big enough to serve four people if you slice it
right, due to all the other ingredients in this salad. Be sure to remove the
tough white tendon sticking out of that long strip of flesh (the tender) at the
back of the breast. You can either cook the chicken breast whole, or if you
want to save cooking time, CAREFULLY slice the breast by placing your hand on
the flat of the chicken breast and slicing along the thickness. See the drawing
below. You should get at least 2 slices from 1 chicken breast. Another option
would be to simply cut the breast into cubes or strips and cook it. However you slice it, BE CAREFUL HANDLING
CHICKEN AS THE RAW MEAT CARRIES THE RISK OF SALMONELLA POISONING. To avoid
this, wash everything that came in contact with the raw chicken with a solution
of about 2 cups of water mixed with a tablespoon of bleach, and then with
regular dish soap and water. Be sure to wash your hands too.
1 Avocado - sliced, and coated with 1
teaspoon of lemon juice. Avocados are a tricky vegetable as they're often sold
under ripe, forcing the buyer to leave them on their kitchen counter for a few
days until they're ripe enough for use. Once peeled, they also turn brown very
quickly, going from bright green to something that looks like the contents of a
baby's diaper. The way to check if your avocado is ripe is to give it a little
squeeze with your thumb and finger tips. If the flesh has some give to it, it's
probably ready to eat. You peel the avocado
by cutting it lengthwise in the middle, making the slit deep enough that it
reaches the pit, and going all around the length with your knife. Grab one half
of the avocado and twist. The other half should pop right off. To get the pit
out, CAREFULLY whack the center of the pit with your knife, twist your wrist
and the pit should come away with the knife. If you're afraid of doing
this - and I don't blame you - you can
always scoop the pit out with a spoon. Once all that's done, make slits in the
flesh of the avocado length wise and press the skin inward with your thumbs or
scoop it out with a spoon. Once the flesh is free of the skin, squeeze some lemon
juice (you could also use lime juice) over it to keep it from turning brown.
3 Slices of Bacon
2 Eggs
16 Cherry Tomatoes - rinsed
At least 4 Tablespoons of Blue Cheese -
crumbled or chopped into little pieces. I like my blue cheese, so I tend to use
a little more, despite the fact that a little goes a long way.
3 Teaspoons of Lemon Juice - divided - 2
teaspoons are for your avocado, the other is for your dressing
2 Tablespoons of Vinegar - Red Wine
Vinegar is ideal, but you could use white or apple cider vinegar
4 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 Heaping Teaspoon of Dijon Mustard
1 Clove of Garlic - peeled and smushed
with either the flat of your knife or with the base of your palm - the latter
move also happens to be used in martial arts
Salt and Pepper
Equipment
1 Knife
1 Cutting Board
1 Jar with tight fitting lid or Clean
Water Bottle - for mixing your salad dressing
Measuring Spoons
1 Frying Pan or baking sheet
1 Small Pot
Paper towels
Plates or Salad Bowls
Pour the
vinegar, mustard, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, garlic, and the olive oil into
your jar or bottle, seal it, and shake to combine. Taste it, and then season it
with salt and pepper to your taste.
Put the eggs in
a pot, add enough water to cover, and hard boil them. See Lowered Eggspectations Part 1. Peel the eggs and slice them thin. Set
aside.
While the eggs
are boiling, fry the bacon in the frying pan, turning once, until reddish brown
and crispy around the edges, and transfer to a plate lined with paper towels.
You could also bake the bacon on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 F for about
5 or 10 minutes per side, just remember that this method doesn't make it as
crispy as pan frying.
Season the
chicken breast with a little salt and pepper and cook it in the bacon fat until
the juices run clear and the chicken is no longer pink inside. Feel free to
pull the thickest piece out of the pan, and cut it in half to check. The cook
time will vary depending on how you sliced the chicken beforehand, if at all.
Let the chicken
rest for 5 minutes or so and then thinly slice it into bite size pieces .
You can now
assemble your salad by arranging or layering the bacon, chicken, eggs, tomatoes
(say 4 per serving), lettuce, blue cheese, and avocado on plates or in a bowl.
I arranged the ingredients separately, which allowed my taster and I to take
the ingredients we wanted in the order we wanted and/or liked them.
If the dressing
has separated, shake it up to combine and drizzle - meaning lightly pour a very
fine stream - over your salad or serve
the dressing on the side.
You are now
ready to serve!
Sick of salads?
Have no fear!
Next time I'll
be doing soups!
So stick around!
- Samantha R. Gold
Questions? Comments? Requests?
Bring it on!
I can be reached at: for.the.culinarily.challenged@gmail.com
Trolls will be unceremoniously
deleted and dismissed.