Make this restaurant-worthy Cobb salad at home

One of my favorite restaurant salads is a Cobb salad. Since it appears to have been created in 1937, it would not be surprising that many younger readers have never heard of it. So before I get to how you and I can make a Cobb salad at home, here’s a little history.

The tale that seems to be the most authentic is that Robert “Bob” Cobb, the owner of Hollywood’s famous The Brown Derby restaurant, created this salad. Since it carries his name, it makes sense that it would be true.

The story goes that late one night, a hungry Cobb first made his salad out of the restaurant refrigerator’s leftovers — some cooked chicken, a ripe avocado, hard-boiled egg, cooked bacon, some blue cheese and chopped onion — tossed them in a bowl, added a simple dressing and — voila — the Cobb salad was born.

Hard to believe that was nearly 90 years ago. There must be something special about this salad for it to have survived this long. To me, those ingredients’ flavors, especially the blue cheese, make this salad uniquely wonderful.

Thanks to this summer’s heat, I’ve been bingeing on salads. To change things up I decided, for the very first time, to make a Cobb salad at home. Part of the reason: I already had all the ingredients except for the blue cheese.

Of course, the classic blue cheese is Roquefort — an excellent, but very expensive, blue. My American favorite (and less expensive) blue is Maytag Blue Cheese from Newton, Iowa.

Since I had to head out for some blue cheese, I found one I’d never heard of: Fourme d'Ambert, which Wikipedia says is “one of France’s oldest semi-hard blue cheeses, originating from the volcanic Auvergne region.” It is a milder and less sharp version of Roquefort and more reasonably priced at $19.49 a pound. Since I made a special trip for my special salad, I bought a few ounces.

One of the advantages of preparing food at home is knowing where my ingredients come from. I only consume organic — chicken, Romaine lettuce, red onion, bacon, tomatoes and eggs. Since I can peel an avocado, it does not need to be organic.

The work for this salad is chopping and dicing everything.

I found several salad dressing recipes meant for Cobb salad. However, I make a salad dressing using a dressing mix from Simply Organic. I add water, organic vinegar, organic extra virgin olive oil and shake. Ta-da! Italian dressing.

How was my salad? Nan almost giggled when she dug in. She said, “This is a great.” That was a rare compliment.

Consider giving this a try.

• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write to him at 1leanwizard@gmail.com.

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Don’s Cobb Salad

Makes: 4 servings

12 ounces cooked chicken breast,* bones and skin removed and chopped

6 ounces cherry tomatoes,* halved

¼ medium red onion,* small dice

8 slices cooked bacon,* roughly chopped, cooked until golden and drained

1 medium avocado, peeled, pit removed and chopped

3 chilled hard-boiled eggs,* shell removed and sliced thin

1 cup (4 ounces) blue cheese, chopped or crumbled

¼ cup oil and vinegar dressing*

2 small heads romaine lettuce,* washed under cold water, dried and chopped

1. Into a large mixing bowl, add the chicken, tomatoes, onion, bacon, avocado, eggs, blue cheese and salad dressing. Using a large silicone spatula, fold ingredients together until combined and coated with dressing.

2. On a large platter, spread romaine lettuce. Transfer the salad onto the lettuce, distributing evenly, and serve.

*Organic preferred.

Nutritional values per serving: 542 calories (55% from fat), 32 g fat (12 g saturated fat), 14.1 g carbohydrates (6.8 net carbs), 5.3 g sugars, 7.3 g fiber, 45.7 g protein, 272 mg cholesterol, 897 mg sodium.

— Don Mauer