WHY A CLASSIC COBB SALAD MAKES THE PERFECT LUNCH

Who doesn’t love a good cobb salad? It’s hearty, satisfying, and can feel almost indulgent through its decadent ingredients (blue cheese and bacon?)—but it’s still a salad, so at least you’re washing everything down with a good dose of greens.  

The thing is, beyond being a fairly easy to throw together salad full of protein and vitamins, the cobb salad is also the perfect salad for… cleaning out the fridge and using up leftovers! And one of the more delicious ways to tackle this project, I might add. Think back on those times when you were desperately trying to find a use for the extra chicken breast from dinner the night before? Or that quarter of an avocado that was turning brown fast? The answer was then, as the answer will always be: cobb salad.

Where did the cobb salad come from?

Good question. What’s cobb? Or better yet, who is Cobb? It turns out that cobb salad does in fact have a traceable origin.

The hearty recipe was created at the Brown Derby Restaurant in Hollywood by the owner, Bob Cobb (love a name that rhymes). As the story goes, it was 1937 and Bob was hunting around the restaurant for a satisfying snack. Opening up the fridge, he pulled out a head of lettuce, an avocado, some romaine, watercress, tomatoes, some cold chicken breast, a hard boiled egg, chives, cheese, and some old-fashioned French dressing. He chopped it all up, then topped it with some crispy bacon, and voila. A fantastic new recipe was born, that he promptly named after himself. 

From there, the cobb salad’s popularity spiked, and the recipe became popular even outside the glamorous city limits of Hollywood. Today, it’s not uncommon to see a cobb salad on the menu here in Canada, and it is also incredibly simple for you to whip one up for yourself at home. I personally love a cobb salad when I’m craving something substantial, but don’t want a lunch that will leave me feeling bloated or tired for the rest of the day.

Part of the beauty of the cobb is that you don’t have to be too careful about following the recipe exactly, so it can be modified depending on what you have.

Do you have your own special spin on cobb salad?

Classic Cobb Salad

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

Dressing

• 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
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Salad

• 1/2 head iceberg lettuce, cored and shredded
• 1/2 head romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1/2 bunch watercress, some of the stems trimmed, chopped
• 2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled (we used a Stilton)
• 6 strips cooked bacon, roughly chopped
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 2 medium tomatoes, peeled*, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons chives, minced

Directions:

For the dressing: Mix canola oil, olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, Worcestershire, sugar, and garlic in a blender. Blend until smooth, then season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

For the salad: On a large platter, mix iceberg lettuce, romaine, and watercress. On top of the greens, arrange the blue cheese, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, chicken, and avocado on top of the greens in rows.