Let me be a dickhead and admit that I am not even sure what goes into a regular Cobb salad. I know I’ve had to eat regular ass Cobb salad once before I gave up dieting, but it was a diet version so it was probably a lie and definitely not my favorite.
Anyway, summer is supposed to start here (in so far as summer ever starts in Holland) and while you could probably eat this any time of year this has been my favorite summer salad ever since I first discovered it back in 2014. I forgot where I found it so apologies if I haven’t backlinked you.
It’s extremely easy and versatile, and only idiots who don’t understand the magic that is (blue) cheese and fruit won’t like it.
Blue cheese and red fruit Cobb salad variety pack
You can have this salad in a number of ways:
- With tofu puffs, store bought or homemade, recipe also written out below for easy access
- Chicken strips, see instructions
- Bacon, or not
- A boiled egg, or not
As you can imagine you can also try this with different cheese and fruit combos. If you aren’t using any of the protein suggestions I would add some bread to make this a full meal.
Blue cheese and red fruit Cobb salad
A fresh, easy and slightly more gutsy variation on the classic Cobb salad with red fruit and blue cheese.
Equipment
- Sheet pan or similar flat surface, for home-made tofu puffs
- Kitchen towel, for home-made tofu puffs
- Heavy object, for home-made tofu puffs
- Oven, for home-made tofu puffs
- Baking sheet, for home-made tofu puffs
- Parchment, for home-made tofu puffs
- Skillet or frying pan, for chicken and/ or bacon strips if using
- Saucepan, for boiling eggs if using
- Bowl or plates, for the actual salad
- Small bowl to mix the dressing
Ingredients
If you're making your own tofu puffs
- 2 c - 250 gr firm tofu
- 2 T - 30 gr corn flour
- 2 T - 30 ml sunflower oil
- pinch salt
If you're having chicken
- 1/2 T - 7.5 gr smoked paprika
- 1 t - 5 gr ground cumin
- 1 t - 5 gr ground coriander
- pinch cayenne
- pinch salt
- pinch pepper
- 9 oz - 250 gr chicken cut into cubes
- olive oil for shallow frying or grilling
Other optional ingredients
- 2 eggs optional
- 6 strips bacon optional, pan fried
Less optional ingredients
- 1/2 head lettuce I like butterhead or baby gems
- 1 c - 125 gr blue cheese whichever you like
- 1 c - 125 gr blueberries
- 1 c - 125 gr raspberries
- 1 c - 125 gr blackberries
- 1/2 avocado cubed
- 2 T - 30 gr almonds roughly chopped, smoked almonds are especially nice
For the dressing
- 2 T - 30 ml olive oil
- 1 T - 15 ml red wine vinegar balsamic also works
- 1 t - 5 gr thyme
- pinch salt
- pinch pepper
Instructions
To make the tofu puffs, if using
- Note: you can skip pressing the tofu but it gives much better results than unpressed tofu as this tends to be waterlogged.
- Press 2 c - 250 gr of tofu for at least 30 mins. You can do this by placing the tofu on some kitchen towels on a sheet tray, placing more kitchen towel on top and then balancing a heavy object on top of that. If you don't have a Dutch oven a large pot with a bunch of books in them will do the trick.
- Once the tofu has been pressed, preheat an oven to 365° F/ 185° C and line a baking sheet with parchment.
- Cut the tofu into your desired shape. Cubes of 1"x1" - 2x2 cm's work best for a salad. Cut them too small and you'll be left will fully crisped up tofu.
- Mix together 2 T - 30 gr of corn flour, 2 T - 30 ml of sunflower oil and a pinch of salt to make a slushy paste.
- Coat the tofu cubes or slabs in the corn flour/ oil slushy.
- Place the tofu cubes, blocks or slabs on the baking sheet and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or so, until the tofu has become puffy and golden. Turn them at the halfway mark.
To prepare the chicken strips
- Mix together the 1/2 T - 7.5 gr of smoked paprika with 1/2 t - 2.5 gr ground cumin and coriander and pinches of cayenne, salt and pepper. Rub 9 oz - 250 gr of chicken strips in this mixture and grill the chicken in a hot frying pan or skillet with olive oil until cooked through.
To prepare eggs, if using
- Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. Lower 2 eggs into the pot, turn down the heat a little and leave the egg to cook for 7 minutes. Run under a cold tap immediately after cooking to stop the egg from cooking further. Peel and quarter.
To plate the salad
- Dump everything on a plate. Make it look fancy like I did. Or don't.
- Mix 2 T - 30 ml of olive oil with 1 T - 15 ml of red wine vinegar and 1 t - 5 gr of thyme and a pinch of salt and pepper and plonk this over as your dressing.
Notes
As this salad relies on freshness it doesn't really keep that well, but if you do have leftovers keep them in a closed container in the fridge and they'll okay enough for lunch the next day.
