Cooking corner: Cobb-style salad

Helen Taylor Smith

guest columnist

Traditional Cobb salad is served with ingredients presented in rows, and a dressing offered on the side. To keep things simple and quick to prepare to serve, the ingredients are mixed and tossed with a delightful garlic dressing. Cooked chicken breast meat is used.

Costco and Trader Joe’s carry uncured nitrite and nitrate-free turkey bacon. Vegetarian Worcestershire sauce and Spike, salt free, can be found in the natural foods section at Fred Meyer.

Ingredients

8 cups romaine lettuce; wash, slice thinly and chop

1 cooked chicken breast, cut into cubes

1 cup Roma tomatoes, diced

1 cup Feta cheese, cut into small cubes

1 avocado, diced — fresh or frozen

6 strips uncured nitrite and nitrate turkey bacon

1 1/4 cups garlic dressing — see recipe below.

Technique

You can prepare the salad and dressing early in the day. Cut off the end of a romaine head and wash it with a bit of unscented, dye-free dish soap. Suds your hands and wash each leaf. Rinse thoroughly.

Pat each leaf dry with paper towels, then cut the leaves into thin strips and chop up the strips.

Line a 2 quart bowl with two sheets of plain paper towels and place the chopped greens into the bowl. Place a paper towel on top of the greens and chill the bowl until about an hour before you plan to serve it.

Cut up the cooked chicken breast meat and place it into a plastic bag. Refrigerate.

Wash the tomatoes and cut them into cubes. Place them into a bowl and keep them covered on the counter top. Room-temperature tomatoes have a better taste.

Cut the Feta cheese into small cubes and place them into a plastic bag. Refrigerate.

Wash the avocado skin for food safety and let it set on counter. Peel only when you’re ready to combine the entire salad, in order to avoid the avocado turning dark.

Cook the turkey bacon and chop it into small pieces. Cover and refrigerate. The bacon can be cooked days ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator.

An hour before you serve the salad, transfer half of the chopped greens to a large plastic bag and keep them refrigerated. Add all the ingredients to the remaining chopped greens in the bowl. Add the garlic salad dressing and toss it gently to thoroughly combine all ingredients.

Cover tightly and store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve.

On four small dinner plates, divide the chopped greens that are stored in the plastic bag onto each plate, and equally divide the salad ingredients mixture onto the greens.

To garnish, sprinkle paprika and parsley on top. Offer a chilled fork for a nice, cool touch.

Yield — four servings.

GARLIC DRESSING

When first prepared, this dressing tastes quite strong. But when tossed with the salad ingredients, it tastes just right.

Make it early in the day or even the day before, in order to allow all the ingredients to blend and mellow.

Ingredients

1 cup low-fat mayonnaise

4 cloves garlic — fresh or frozen

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon Wizard or Robbie’s Vegetarian Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon Spike, salt free

Dash black pepper

Fat-free milk to thin, if needed

Technique

In a 1 quart mixing bowl, place all the ingredients and whisk to blend. Pour into a jar, cover tightly and refrigerate until one hour before you plan to serve it.

Before you mix it with greens, thin the dressing with additional milk, if needed, because the mixture will thicken when it’s refrigerated.

Follow instructions for serving as described under the Cobb-style salad listed above.

Yield — about 1 1/4 cups.

Cooking Corner columnist Helen Taylor Smith, “The Healthy Cook,” can be reached by e-mail at thecook@thehealthycook.com.