There’s a certain amount of people who can confidently admit to really enjoying salads on a regular basis, especially as a main dish.  Very few mothers, however, can make the same statement about their children.  Not only are vegetables & salads a deal-breaker in many a kid’s meal, but scarcely any child will be delighted to come home and find a big salad platter in the middle of the table.  How proud am I to have one of the world’s only salad-loving kids?  Granted the little one still has a long way to go, my 10-year-old daughter declared this one of her official favorite dishes, ever!  And both her dad & I couldn’t agree more.

The all-American Cobb salad is always a great choice in any restaurant – never fails at being an awesome filling selection!  This main-dish salad is made with a bed of salad greens loaded with tomato, crisp bacon, grilled chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, cheese & can be served with a red-wine vinaigrette or the delicious bleu cheese dressing I made today.  One easy way to remember the arrangement: EAT COBB: Egg, Avocado, Tomato, Chicken, Onion, Bacon, Bleu cheese!

In the 1930s, the owner of the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood, Robert Howard Cobb found himself starving at the restaurant near midnight.  He mixed together leftovers he found in the kitchen and chopped everything fine because he had just had dental work.  Makes sense to me, since its ingredients are pretty basic, making it a pretty easy, yet completely satisfying meal.  Plus, look at how beautiful that dish looks!

For the Salad

• 1 head of lettuce, separated into leaves
• 1 avocado, pitted, peeled, & diced
• 4 cups of diced cooked chicken or turkey breast
• 6 slices of bacon, cooked & crumbled
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, diced
• 3 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup of crumbled white cheese

The simplicity of this dish is magical!  I’m at a loss for words!  Line a platter evenly with the lettuce leaves.  Arrange the ingredients in rows on top of the lettuce and prepare the dressing.

For the Creamy Bleu Cheese Dressing

• 1 cup of mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup of sour cream
• 1/4 cup of finely chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
• 6 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• Salt & pepper
• 4 ounces of Roquefort or other blue cheese

Although many many not be too keen on blue cheese, a good-quality kind, such as Roquefort, turns this into a truly distinctive dressing.  Blue cheese is basically a moldy blue-veined, distinctly-smelling cheese.  The characteristic flavor of blue cheeses tends to be sharp & salty and the smell is due both to the mold and to the types of bacteria encouraged to grow on the cheese.  Whether it be Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Stilton, or the newer Danablu & Cambozola…if you can’t stand the idea of eating this particular type of cheese, just substitute it for a regular white crumbly cheese in the recipe.

Combine all the ingredients except the blue cheese in a food processor or blender until smooth.  Add the blue cheese and process to the desired consistency.  Lightly drizzle the dressing over the salad & serve, passing the remaining dressing separately.