Grilled Lamb Cobb Salad

The Cobb salad is not nearly as popular as it once was, but the basic concept has real potential. A traditional Cobb salad consists of chopped chicken, bacon, hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, avocados, cheddar cheese, and salad greens in a bowl. It is then dressed with a vinaigrette and topped with Roquefort cheese. Its origin is attributed to Bob Cobb during the 1920s at the famous Hollywood Brown Derby Restaurant. I prefer to segregate it to allow tasting the components individually and added grilled meat to make it more robust. Grilled chicken or beef can be substituted.

Serves 2

1 ear corn

1 medium red bell pepper

2 medium tomatoes

1/4 cup diced red onion

2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled

1 large Hass avocado

2 cups chopped Romaine lettuce

Vinaigrette salad dressing

6 tablespoons blue cheese

2 portions of lean lamb (approximately 1/2 inch thick)

Olive oil for brushing

Salt and fresh ground pepper.

Prepare the vinaigrette (recipe follows). Grill the corn and bell pepper directly over a hot fire, turning every 4 minutes until charred on all sides. Place the pepper in a closed container for 10 minutes to steam and finish cooking.

Cut the corn from the cob. Remove the skin, stem, seeds, and membranes from the pepper, chop and combine with the corn. Dress the corn-pepper mixture with vinaigrette and lightly salt. Chop and combine the tomato and onion.

Remove the seed and peel the avocado, chop and lightly drizzle with fresh lemon juice. Peel and chop the eggs and combine with the avocado. Divide the lettuce into two portions, placing each portion in the center of a serving plate. Divide the corn-pepper, egg-avocado, and onion-tomato mixtures placing them around three sides of the lettuce. Divide the blue cheese and plate it in the remaining side of the plates.

Dress the onion-tomato, egg-avocado, and lettuce with vinaigrette. Brush the meat with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Grill the meat directly over a hot fire until medium rare (135°F), approximately 4 minutes per side. Slice the meat and place it on top of the lettuce and serve.

Vinaigrette (same as posted April 19, 2018)

2/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon powdered mustard

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

Combine in a sealable container and shake vigorously. This recipe makes much more than necessary for this recipe but will keep indefinitely at room temperature.