This lighter version of a classic salad replaces high-fat ingredients with fresh summer produce and a few pantry staples.
As “foodie movies” go, Julie & Julia is a winner in my book. With Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci portraying Julia and Paul Child, the screenplay is by Nora Ephron.
In the 2009 film, Amy Adams plays Julie Powell, the NYC office worker who fan girls all over Julia Child while cooking and blogging her way out of professional burnout. In one of the scenes, Julie tells her hubby she has an upcoming lunch with college mates that she’s not looking forward to. “Cobb salad lunch tomorrow. Dreading,” she laments. Here’s the scene:
After we meet her gal pals, it’s easy to understand why she dreaded the lunch because who would turn her nose up at a classic American dish, the cobb salad, although each girl boss in the scene eliminates one ingredient while placing her order: cobb salad, no bacon; cobb salad, no blue cheese; cobb salad, no avocado; cobb salad, no eggs.
My Summer Cobb Salad replaces some of those high-fat ingredients with swaps like kalamata olives instead of bacon and fresh summer corn instead of cheese. A flavorful peppercorn ranch dressing and chicken made with Tastefully Simple’s Makin’ Magic Chicken seasoning round out this tasty salad.
Culinary purists no doubt will argue it’s not a cobb salad without avocado, bacon, and blue cheese. Technically, that’s true. But look at the story that gave us the cobb salad and you may embrace the swaps.
According to legend, Bob Cobb who owned Hollywood’s Brown Derby restaurant in 1937 after a long night of service realized he was hungry, so he raided the kitchen refrigerator and pulled out hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, cheese, and avocado. He added crisp bacon and shared the salad creation with a friend, Sid Grauman (you know, Grauman’s Chinese Theater), who loved it so much, he asked for it the next day. Lesson: necessity indeed is the mother of invention.
Even after my swaps, what we have is a delicious and well-constructed salad that will feed four people. So, let’s get cooking!
To make Summer Cobb Salad, you will need these ingredients:
15 ounces chopped Romaine lettuce
2 cups prepared and chopped Makin’ Magic Chicken
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced
½ cup fresh corn kernels
4 scallions, diced
2 tablespoons chopped kalamata olives
What is Makin’ Magic Chicken? It’s a seasoning blend made by Tastefully Simple that includes onion, garlic, bell pepper and chives and is perfect for batch cooking. I added 3 tablespoons of this seasoning to 2 pounds of chicken breasts and 1 cup of water to my slow cooker and set it on low for 5 hours. The chicken is moist and shreds beautifully to use in salads, sandwiches, wraps and other recipes.
You also could poach chicken according to your preferred method.
Directions for Easy Cobb Salad
Poach your chicken the day before and store in an airtight container inside your refrigerator.
Wash and dry Romaine leaves. Chop into bite-sized pieces. The rest is simply assembling the salad!
Place Romaine on a large serving plate. Line ingredients in rows on top of the lettuce. If possible, alternate colors: a row of red tomatoes, a row of chopped scallions, and so on.
Serve with homemade ranch dressing.
Although the original Cobb salad was dressed with a vinaigrette, a homemade ranch dressing accompanies this salad beautifully. The salad needs a creamy element. You could use your favorite or make it fresh with this easy recipe.
½ cup low-fat milk
½ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Classic Ranch Mix
1 tablespoon Seasoned Pepper
The last two ingredients came in my Tastefully Simple Salad Shake Up Five Meal Kit. You could also use whatever ranch mix or seasoned pepper you have.
Whisk ingredients together and pour into a small bowl to serve alongside the cobb salad. I served the salad with freshly baked Bountiful Beer Bread for a complete and satisfying lunch.
So, how does this lightened-up cobb compare with the original? My salad has 17 grams of fat and 275 calories compared to 43 grams of fat and 623 calories. If you can eat a little healthier while not sacrificing flavors, why not?
Salad storing tips
Keep any leftover Easy Cobb Salad in an airtight container (glass works best). Serve the dressing on the side; this will help the leftovers from wilting. Enjoy salad the next day.
About the blog
Three Women in the Kitchen is an award-winning food blog offering today’s home cooks comforting, hearty recipes with a personal touch. The website also pays tribute to Deborah’s mother, Katie Reinhardt, and paternal grandmother, Dorothy Reinhardt (the “three women” in the kitchen). Whether you’re an experienced or a novice cook, you’ll find inspiration here to feed your families and warm your heart. Subscribe today so you won’t miss a single delicious detail.