Atria’s salad includes romaine and iceberg lettuces, but not too much, and cubed carrots, celery, red onion, cucumber, corn kernels, tomato, scallions, pimento, avocado and something else that I forgot.
After flying into Pittsburgh International Airport, my husband and I often make a pit stop at Ditka’s in Robinson for lunch or supper. It serves a killer chopped salad, too, with all the usual suspects plus red and green sweet peppers, chickpeas and pickled pepperoncini for snap. Blue cheese and tortilla chip strips top Dikta’s hearty salad ($7).
Maybe the drama queen of chopped salads is the Cobb Salad where the chopped ingredients are arranged in bars or stripes over a bed of greens. Rows of hard cooked egg, bacon crumbles, roasted chicken shreds, avocado, tomatoes and the ever-present blue cheese and vinaigrette dressing are the other ingredients. The diner does the tossing, but still, it’s a chopped salad.
To make a chopped salad at home, think very fresh vegetables, refreshing and cold, cut into uniform shapes and above all, crunchy. I like to add cubes of apple and a handful of nuts, too. Toss lightly with a highly seasoned dressing and top with cheese crumbles, real bacon bits and small crunchy croutons.
So good.
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COBB SALAD WITH CREAMY PESTO DRESSING
PG tested
A salad of colorful stripes is a real eye catcher. Cobb salads are served with the ingredients lined up in neat rows, and then the diner tosses it all together, or not, as he or she chooses. Got vegetarians? Lose the bacon and chicken, but add more veggies. Almost any dressing will do — creamy pesto, Ranch or a simple vinaigrette.
6 cups slivered romaine lettuce (or a combo of romaine and iceberg)
8 slices crisp bacon, cooked and roughly crumbled
3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into large dice
2 medium-size tomatoes, seeded and cut into large dice
1 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 avocado, peeled and cubed
1/2 cup diced red onion
Optional rows: chickpeas, English peas, diced sweet peppers, cook’s choice
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
Kosher or coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Creamy Pesto Dressing
Scatter the lettuce over a large serving platter. Over the greens, make neat rows of crumbled bacon, eggs, tomatoes, chicken, avocado, onion and blue cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle Creamy Pesto Dressing over the salad, or serve it on the side.
Creamy Pesto Dressing
1/2 cup mayonnaise, preferably Hellman’s
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup fresh basil leaves (or half basil, half mint)
2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, finely minced
Kosher or coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Blend or whisk together mayonnaise, buttermilk, basil, cheese, garlic, and salt and pepper until everything is well combined. Transfer to a plastic container. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. It will last for up to 2 days in the refrigerator.
Makes about 1 cup.
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