Cobb Salad

I'm a big Cobb Salad fan, but I've never made it at home before.  I typically spend $15 for the salad all over town.  My version at home was just as good as the restaurant staple and costs half as much.

For a delicious dinner for two:

1 head of lettuce (I used Romaine)

4 strips of thick cut bacon

1 tomato

About 1 cup of croutons

1 avocado

2 green onions

2 eggs

1 cup of cooked, chopped chicken

1/2 cup of crumbled blue cheese

For the dressing:

1 shallot

1 garlic clove

1 tablespoon of dijon

1 tablespoon of vinegar (White Wine, Red Wine, or Champagne all work well)

1 tablespoons of olive oil

This is just a salad so it should be super simple.  Start by hard boiling the eggs and cooking the bacon.  Stack the bacon and cut into strips.    

While the eggs and bacon cook, chop up the rest of the ingredients.  I used some leftover roasted chicken, but you can just buy a rotisserie chicken or grab a few pieces from the deli.  

Once the bacon is cooked, remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to remove the excess grease.  Drain off all but 1 tablespoon of the drippings and use that for the vinaigrette.  To make the dressing, cook the chopped shallot and garlic for a minute or two in the bacon drippings until soft.  Then add a tablespoon of dijon to the pan and a tablespoon of vinegar and whisk together.  If needed, add another 1 tablespoon of olive oil and continue to whisk until emulsified.

To finish the salad, you could of course just toss everything together, but where's the fun in that?  For a more classic "restaurant style" salad, place a layer of lettuce in a large bowl and arrange the ingredients across the top.  Enjoy.