[Recipe] Disney’s Cobb Salad

Welcome back sunshine!

In our beautiful part of the country, it’s been sunny and warm lately. I’m back to wearing skirts and capris, doing yard work, and getting regular sunburns. I am loving it.

Seems this time of year all I want to do eat is salad. All kinds of salads, all kinds of dressings and vinaigrettes, and salad toppers. All of them.

Bring me all of the salad!

I’m always looking for a new salad recipe – the next salad I’ll fall in love with. In light of that, I’ve decided that I’ll be trying new salad recipes every single week for the ENTIRE SUMMER! Yup, a salad series on The Frilly Apron. From now until Labour Day, I’ll be posting at least one new salad recipe for you to try every single week. That’s 18 salads!

I’m very excited about it. Excited about salad – yes I am.

So now my request to all of you readers… If you have a favourite salad that you don’t want to live without and that you’d like others to try so they can’t live without it, please PLEASE pass along the recipe. I’ll try it and publish it, giving you all the credit.

Like my favourite salad from last year, Megan’s Chickpea Avocado Salad. I’ve eaten it 4 times in the past 2 weeks, it’s that good.

Up first in my personal list of must-try salads is a salad made famous at Hollywood’s Brown Derby chain of restaurants in LA in the fifties. The story goes that the owner of the restaurant threw this salad together for a theatre owner who had just had dental work done, which is why the salad is chopped so finely.

This salad is one of the most popular dishes at The Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant at Walt Disney world. I can see why it’s so popular – this salad is amazing! I’ve altered it only a little bit, reducing the oil in the vinaigrette and altering a few of the ingredients. If you search online for the original recipe, you can find it in multiple places.

Although I’ve already reduced the amount of oil in the dressing, I would encourage you do reduce it even further. It is a very oily, high-calorie dressing, and while very good, I don’t think it would hurt to have the oil reduced even more. The tang of the dressing also really compliments the other rich salad ingredients nicely.

[Recipe] Cobb Salad

Makes 6 servings

1/2 head iceberg lettuce
1/2 head romaine lettuce
1 cup arugula (or any other green – optional)
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken breast
3 eggs, hard-boiled
1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled
3 strips bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1 avocado, diced
2 Tbsp chopped chives

Chop all ingredients finely and layer in a large bowl or on a large platter. Typically, Cobb salad is arranged with lettuces and other greens on the bottom with rows of the other ingredients on the top.

[Recipe] French Dressing

Makes about 1 1/2 cups dressing

1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon English mustard
1/4 C olive oil
3/4 C salad oil (or light olive oil – use a neutral flavoured oil)

Combine all ingredients in a salad shaker or a large mason jar. Shake.

If you don’t have a salad dressing shaker, mix all ingredients except the oils in a large bowl. Drizzle the oil into the bowl, whisking vigorously until all of the oil is added.

Drizzle the dressing over the salad ingredients and combine well before serving.