Country Cobb Salad

We like salads of different kinds but they can be a pain to make (all of that chopping––I know, it's something I need to get over). In restaurants we often order Cobb salad. Traditionally it is a concoction of several kinds of lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber, egg, bacon and avocado, sprinkled with blue cheese and dressing. Here is an interesting website, The Kitchen Project, that has a great deal of information on food history, including the origins of Cobb Salad, along with a recipe for dressing, too. It is essentially a chopped salad and you can substitute anything you like for the meat and veggies.

It made a very easy supper for us tonight and I am proud to say that half of the ingredients were raised right here on our farm: eggs, bacon, tomatoes and cucumbers. You could also use green or colored peppers, steak, shrimp, beets, green beans, broccoli, you name it! Wherever you are and whatever your produce options, it's a fun salad to eat and to make and at this time of year you can really rely on what you have in the garden or locally. My recipe makes four servings.

Country Cobb Salad

• 1 package romaine lettuce, chopped

   (or combination of other lettuces)

• 1/2 medium red onion, chopped

• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped

• 2-4 hard boiled eggs, chopped

• 2-4 medium pickle cucumbers, chopped

• 2 cooked chicken breasts, chopped

• 8-10 slices of bacon, chopped

• 1/2 cup of crumbled blue cheese or roquefort

• dressing of your choice, drizzled lightly

• cracked pepper

[Note: I omitted avocado because I didn't have one here and wanted to use what I had on hand]

Chop each ingredient one at a time and arrange on plates, starting with the lettuce on the bottom layer. Arrange remaining ingredients as you like on top of the lettuce or toss altogether in large bowl. Sprinkle with crumbled blue cheese. Drizzle dressing of choice over salad and finish with fresh cracked pepper. It is especially good if the bacon is still warm.