Cobb Salad

[kmac]

Shottlebop mentioned in the "low carb daily diet" thread having a Cobb Salad. Anyone have a good, low carb recipe for this? Shottlebop, yours seems to have given good results. Can you share your ingredients? Anyhone else have comments? I googled it but have never tried it so I am looking for comments from other members. Looks good and I'm looking for something to vary my lunches a bit.

Thanks in advance.:)

Kathi

[Chef Barrae]

The classic Cobb Salad is a composed salad, meaning all of the ingredients are cut, diced, sliced or chopped and are plated individually by color and eye appeal. The basic and original Cobb includes iceberg lettuce, tomato, avacado, hard boiled egg, bacon, chicken and roquefort cheese. The originator of the Cobb Salad owned the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood, CA. many years ago and had made it in an attempt to make a snack for a special customer. Much the same as the real history of Buffalo Wings and Nacho's. The salad is served with a vinaigrette usually but I am sure you would enjoy it with most any of your favorite salad dressings.

Have you ever tried a nice spinach salad? I like to use baby spinach, which is more tender and milder in flavor, bacon, hard boiled eggs, shrimp or chicken and a few croutons. I dress it with a warm vinaigrette made from balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper. The warm vinaigrette wilts the spinach slightly and is a very nice touch.

[ShottleBop]

What Chef Barrae said. Actually, I eat the Cobb salads at various restaurants near work. Today's was from a sandwich place that also has a few salads. This one was heavy on tomatoes and light on the bacon, and had no cheese--but was made from a mix of greens. Most of the Cobb salads I see around here are made with romaine, or romaine and spinach, rather than iceberg lettuce. Some have both ham and turkey; others are turkey alone.

I usually eat them dry, or with just olive oil.

St. Tropez, downstairs in my building, has an excellent Cobb salad, with lots of bacon, and only a couple of slices of tomato.

For me, it's a BG-friendly salad. I was at 106 before lunch, and never went above 111 afterwards.

[cyberus]

The classic Cobb Salad is a composed salad, meaning all of the ingredients are cut, diced, sliced or chopped and are plated individually by color and eye appeal. The basic and original Cobb includes iceberg lettuce, tomato, avacado, hard boiled egg, bacon, chicken and roquefort cheese. The originator of the Cobb Salad owned the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood, CA. many years ago and had made it in an attempt to make a snack for a special customer. Much the same as the real history of Buffalo Wings and Nacho's. The salad is served with a vinaigrette usually but I am sure you would enjoy it with most any of your favorite salad dressings.

Have you ever tried a nice spinach salad? I like to use baby spinach, which is more tender and milder in flavor, bacon, hard boiled eggs, shrimp or chicken and a few croutons. I dress it with a warm vinaigrette made from balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper. The warm vinaigrette wilts the spinach slightly and is a very nice touch.

Sadly the true Cobb salad seems to have been replaced by glorified chefs salads

[kmac]

Thanks very much for your replies. It sounds really good. One thing I am not sure of is avacado. They don't grow here and I am not sure how to find a good one and exactly how best to prepare it. Also if it is not all eaten in one sitting what is the best thing to do with the left over part.

Thanks

Kathi

[jer.lawrence]

Not sure of the carb count, but I used to really enjoy Quizno's Cobb Salads if you have a Quizno's near you.

Chicken breast, bacon, hard-boiled eggs, bleu cheese crumbles, tomatoes, red onion. I am not a fan of uncooked red onion though, so left that off.

[Chef Barrae]

Thanks very much for your replies. It sounds really good. One thing I am not sure of is avacado. They don't grow here and I am not sure how to find a good one and exactly how best to prepare it. Also if it is not all eaten in one sitting what is the best thing to do with the left over part.

Thanks

Kathi

My favorite type of avacado is the Haas avacado. They are common in the northeast, south and west coasts. I don't know about the midwest or northwest availability though these days it seems you can get any kind of produce at any time of the year. To pick a good Haas avacado, the skin should be quite dark, almost black looking, and it should have a little give to it when you gently press it with your finger. I have found that if you cut the avacado around the circumference and give it a little twist, you can easily seperate it into two halves. Use the back of your knife to pull out the large pit by hitting it and giving it a gently pull. If you prefer you can use a spoon to scoop it out. To scoop out the avacado from the thin skin, run a large spoon around the edges and in towards the center. You can pull it out in one piece this way and then slice it. Or, you can take your knife and cut into a dice right in the skin and then scoop it out. If you rinse the pit and put a few toothpicks in the sides to balance it, you can root it in a glass of water and then plant it. You'll have avacados before you know it with some luck!

Avacado oxidizes easily. What that means is that it turns brown when exposed to the air. To store any unused portions of avacado I like to give it a quick dip in either fresh lemon or lime juice. The acidity of the fresh citrus juice protects it from this process. Or, make a quick guacamole by mashing the avacado with chopped onion, garlic and tomato. I also like to put small slices of avacado on sandwiches instead of mayo as it is a much healthier fat.

[Chef Barrae]

Sadly the true Cobb salad seems to have been replaced by glorified chefs salads

That is so true! I would love to see some retro salads make a return! The originals with some modernized changes to lighten just a bit. I also want to see the return of the original Green Goddess salad dressing! Yum!

[cyberus]

That is so true! I would love to see some retro salads make a return! The originals with some modernized changes to lighten just a bit. I also want to see the return of the original Green Goddess salad dressing! Yum!

I think the best I ever had was what we served at my previous job, on a rectangular platter with rows of goodies, of which we had a list and you could pick 10 items, up to 5 meats and cheeses plus 5 other items on a bed of your choice of salad base.

[Chef Barrae]

I think the best I ever had was what we served at my previous job, on a rectangular platter with rows of goodies, of which we had a list and you could pick 10 items, up to 5 meats and cheeses plus 5 other items on a bed of your choice of salad base.

Composed salads are great for parties also! You can be sure that everyone will find things they enjoy and can eat. I'm not a low carber, I have about 45 grams of carbs with each meal, so I don't do all the heavy proteins and fats too much. My plan was constructed for me by a nutritionist and is pretty well balanced. YMMV as they say. It's what works for me. I love a good spinach salad though and freely add bacon, hard boiled eggs, and sometimes even roasted turkey. I figure if I go off my plan once in a while and it is just with a protein or a little extra fat, it isn't so bad at all! I may not lose an ounce that day but we all need a break sometimes.

So, you were in the food industry? Tell me about it!

[cyberus]

Composed salads are great for parties also! You can be sure that everyone will find things they enjoy and can eat. I'm not a low carber, I have about 45 grams of carbs with each meal, so I don't do all the heavy proteins and fats too much. My plan was constructed for me by a nutritionist and is pretty well balanced. YMMV as they say. It's what works for me. I love a good spinach salad though and freely add bacon, hard boiled eggs, and sometimes even roasted turkey. I figure if I go off my plan once in a while and it is just with a protein or a little extra fat, it isn't so bad at all! I may not lose an ounce that day but we all need a break sometimes.

So, you were in the food industry? Tell me about it!

I've been cooking for most of the last 30 years, just moved into a corporate restaurant last Sept after losing my last restaurant job of 16 yrs.

[Chef Barrae]

I've been cooking for most of the last 30 years, just moved into a corporate restaurant last Sept after losing my last restaurant job of 16 yrs.

So sorry to hear you lost such a long time job but glad you have something else that sounds great. I've been cooking for about 40 years plus total and had a personal chef business. I've also worked for one of the biggies in the food service industry but wasn't real happy in that kind of corporate world.

[cyberus]

So sorry to hear you lost such a long time job but glad you have something else that sounds great. I've been cooking for about 40 years plus total and had a personal chef business. I've also worked for one of the biggies in the food service industry but wasn't real happy in that kind of corporate world.

Economy being what it is you take what you can get ... plus while corporate isn't exactly my comfort zone due to lack of actual "cooking" (ie anyone that can follow a recipe can do this stuff) my experience level does allow me to work pretty much on my own so its not as bad as it could be.
Of course on the total flip side is the health insurance ... the prescription insurance alone makes it a whole lot more tolerable.