Modern Cob Salad

Photo of two Cob Salads, displayed differently, but with same ingredients.
Two salad styles using same ingredients. Photo by PattyCooks.

Diet
[x] Flexitarian + Omnivore
[x] Vegan: Do not add chicken, but use the same recipe
[x] Vegetarian: Do not add chicken, but use the same recipe
[x] Pescatarian: Do not add chicken, but use the same recipe
[x] Gluten free
[x] Weight Maint: Reduce walnuts to 1T, dressing to 2T
[O] Keto Diet
[x] Mediterranean 
[O] Lectin Avoidance: do not use tomatoes otherwise ok
[O] Oxalate Avoidance: avoid celery + tomatoes
[x] Purine Avoidance

Modern Cobb Salad

Different than the traditional Cobb, nevertheless a real, colorful, and highly textured salad.

Cooking

  • 2 Eggs (Hard or medium boiled, then sliced.)
  • 1/2 C Walnuts (Toasted, whole or halved or pieces. 1/4C per salad.)

Veggie Prep

  • 4 C Romaine Lettuce (Sliced)
  • 1 Carrot (Diagonally sliced, matchsticked, or coin chops)
  • 1 Stalk Celery (With leaves, finely chopped)
  • 1 Heirloom Tomato (Sliced)
  • 1/2 Avocado (Sliced lengthwise onto the salad)

Salad Topping

  • 2 Pinch Salt (Over egg + tomato)
  • 6 Oz Chicken breast (Sliced baked or grilled chicken breast)
  • 1/2 C Crumbled blue cheese (1/4C per salad)
  • 1/2 C Blue Cheese Dressing (1/4C per salad)

Cooking Prep

  1. Boil eggs either hard or medium, cool, peel and slice either in half or with a slicer.

  2. Toast walnuts in a dry hot skillet. Careful not to burn, you want them toasted, and aromatic.

Prep Veggies

  1. Chop lettuce and place in the bottom of a bowl. Add the salad dressing and mix well before you place the lettuce into the serving bowls. This is important since mixing this salad after it is plated can be messy, so do it for people.

  2. Chop carrot In your favorite way, I did a diagonal round, and a quarter chop but pick the style you like. Then place along the rim of the salad

  3. Chop celery Very thinly and include any leaves as well as stalks. I place these generally next to the carrots.

  4. Chop a heirloom tomato into slices, and place along the rim of the salad.

  5. Slice 1/2 avocado so there are slcies next to the tomato.

Topping

  1. Pinch of salt on egg + tomato to add a bit of flavor

  2. Slice and place chicken on the rim of the salad, whereever there is room.

  3. Sprinkle the toasted walnuts on the salad, 1/4C per serving.

  4. Sprinkly crumbled blue cheese on the salad in the middle of the salad, directly on the lettuce.1/4C per salad.

Wikipedia speaks of this salad as a main-dish American garden salad typically made with chopped salad greens (iceberg lettuce, watercress, endives and romaine lettuce), tomato, crisp bacon, boiled, grilled or roasted (but not fried) chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, chives, Roquefort cheese, and red-wine vinaigrette.
 
What makes this “modern” is the removal of bacon, and adding celery + carrots. Bacon is not healthy, and I have replaced that meat with the walnuts which are much better for us in terms of nutrition.