COBB SALAD RECIPE ~ An Edible Landscape!

Cobb Salad ~ Labor Day Weekend is Almost Here!
Looking for something to jazz up your Labor Day picnic, cookout or dock party? This gorgeous Cobb Salad is a meal in itself and will satisfy any hungry crowd! Look at all the bright colors and tell me if this main dish salad wouldn't look tempting on your picnic table?

I've been wanting to make this salad for some time now. The nice neat rows of bright colors appealed to my organized and anal side! It's kind of like when you set up a new desk drawer for the first time, and you come home from the office supply store loaded with pens and pencils, paper clips and glue sticks. Everything has a place to go in little rows, nice and tidy and straight. OK, maybe there's a little OCD coming out there. But that's what this Cobb Salad reminds me of, only you can eat it!

History of The Cobb Salad
According to Wikipedia, "The Cobb salad is a garden salad and was a signature menu item of the legendary Brown Derby, a landmark restaurant in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. In 1937, Brown Derby owner Robert H. Cobb went into the restaurant's kitchen to fix a late-night snack for Sid Grauman, operator of Grauman's Chinese Theater." And the rest as they say, is history! For more history and the Original Cobb Salad Dressing recipe, see the link below.

Way Too Many Versions of Cobb Salad!
There are way too many versions of Cobb Salad floating around out there in blogland. How do you choose? You might think you have to have just the right ingredients and follow the recipe exactly. Not so. You can be very flexible with this salad depending on what you have on hand and in the fridge. Some recipes include Roquefort cheese and watercress. Others make their own dressing with Worcestershire sauce. I had these ingredients; tomatoes, avocado, romaine & butterhead lettuce, bacon, hard boiled eggs and some fresh dill. I also had some chicken tenderloins that I marinated in Weber's Grill Creations White Wine & Herb marinade. (Just add water and oil and the contents of the dry packet to a Ziploc bag and marinate the meat. They make many other marinades that you can choose from too.)

Cobb Salad ~ An Edible Landscape
This is where you can let your creative juices flow! Your salad can be arranged and displayed any way you want.
Pile it in concentric layers on a round plate.
Arrange it on a platter in order of color preference.
Let your inner child loose and create a free-form edible landscape.
Or, do like I did and arrange the ingredients in neat & tidy colorful rows.

The Cobb Salad Recipe (This is my version!)

2 cups boneless chicken breast, marinated, cooked and diced
1/2 pound bacon, cooked, drained and crumbled
2 hard boiled eggs, peeled
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
1 head butterhead lettuce, chopped
1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Preparation:
Note: The following steps can all be done earlier in the day, saving you time in the kitchen!

Marinate the chicken (see above) for at least 60 minutes. Saute or grill until cooked through. Let cool and cut into chunks. (Use leftover chicken from whatever you cooked the night before!)
Cook the bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towels and crumble when cool. Not too small though!
Hard boil the eggs, cool, peel and dice. Or, separate the yolks from the whites and dice separately.

Assembly:

Toss the two lettuces together with the fresh dill and place evenly in the bottom of a nice serving dish. Mine is a two quart baking dish and it's just the right size for my salad.
Arrange the ingredients (see the creative steps above) on top of the lettuce mix in your own wild and crazy pattern!
Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top.
Refrigerate, covered until ready to serve.
Serve with your favorite dressing, or click here for the Original Cobb Salad Dressing along with an interesting story on how the Cobb Salad and the Brown Derby Restaurant got its name.
Serves 4-6.