Greek-style Cobb salad
The Cobbopoulos; a delicious, inspired Greek-style, Cobb salad
This Greek-style Cobb salad is satisfying in so many ways. First, it delivers in flavour, with simple and fresh ingredients that come together deliciously. Second, it manages to put a Greek spin on a classic Cobb salad making it, in our opinion at least, even better. Feta and Kalamata olives tend to do that. Finally, the presentation is reminiscent of each of us, at different moments. The initial plating, ordered and with each ingredient clearly in its place, satisfies the need for organization that Helen has. When the salad gets tossed together to coat every little bit with the delicious dressing…well that’s organized chaos in a bowl, and hits home with Billie. Who do you identify with?
The origin of the Cobb salad (the xeno version) is linked to the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant and one of the men who started this chain, Robert H. Cobb. The story (or one of the stories) is that this salad was created from a bunch of restaurant leftovers, for a patron named Sid Grauman, a showman and theater owner. It seems that poor Sid had undergone some dental work and couldn’t chew well, so the salad ingredients were chopped into small pieces to make the salad easier for him to eat. How considerate of Mr. Cobb, and how considerate of us to give you a version of this salad that will make you say, Opa! 🙂
Helpful hints
When tend to make this Greek-style Cobb salad more frequently in the summer, when we can easily grill the chicken and use fresh vegetables from the garden. Truth is however, that this is a salad that can be enjoyed any time of year. If you would prefer not to grill your chicken, simply pan fry it or bake it until cooked through.
Greek marinade for chicken
The marinade for the chicken is a basic ladolemono (olive oil and lemon marinade) which Greeks tend to use often. We like to marinade meats and poultry in ladolemono as we do here, and also pour ladolemono onto already cooked meat. Sometimes we do both! Be careful however to never pour ladolemono which was used as a marinade over cooked meat; this can make you very sick.
Make ahead ingredients for your Greek-style Cobb salad
If you cook your meat and your eggs the day before you can pull this salad together in a very short amount of time; this can be pretty handy during the work week when things tend to get crazy a bit busier.
Greek-style Cobb salad
Ingredients
Ladolemono (olive oil and lemon marinade)
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon dry Greek oregano
For the salad:
- 1 large chicken breast
- 1 head romaine lettuce
- 2 eggs
- 1 medium tomato, cut into small dice
- 1/2 large cucumber
- 10 Kalamata olives, approximately
- 1/3 cup cubed feta cheese
- 2 tbsp finely chopped red onion
Salad dressing:
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup vegetable or avocado oil
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh basil
- 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh chives
- 1/4 teaspoon dry Greek oregano
Instructions
- Prepare the ladolemono (olive oil and lemon marinade) for your chicken by whisking together the olive oil, lemon juice and oregano. Pour the ladolemono over the chicken and let it rest in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.1/3 cup olive oil, 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice, 1 teaspoon dry Greek oregano
- Remove the chicken from the marinade and pat it dry. Grill your chicken until it is cooked through and set aside. When it has cooled, cut it into cubes.1 large chicken breast
- Boil your eggs for 10 minutes so that they are hard-boiled. When they are ready, submerge them in cold water to cool them. Peel your eggs and cut them in half, and then into quarters.2 eggs
- Prepare your romaine lettuce by washing the leaves and chopping them into 1 inch strips. Dry the lettuce well.1 head romaine lettuce
- Select a large shallow bowl. Arrange your lettuce in the bottom of the bowl. Now you will arrange the ingredients in sections on top of your salad. You can either follow our instructions, or arrange things as you prefer. We like to arrange the ingredients as follows:1 medium tomato, cut into small dice, 1/2 large cucumber, 10 Kalamata olives, approximately, 1/3 cup cubed feta cheese, 2 tbsp finely chopped red onion
- Strip of chicken cubesA row of Kalamata olivesHard boiled eggsTomatoesSliced cucumberFeta cheeseRed onion
- In a mason jar combine all of the ingredients for the dressing and shake well to combine. Pour the dressing over the arranged salad and serve.1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup vegetable or avocado oil, 2 tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley, 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh basil, 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh chives, 1/4 teaspoon dry Greek oregano
- Upon serving, toss to combine all of the ingredients.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Where is the recipe? List of ingredients?
Hi Laura, Scroll to the bottom of the post, or click to the “jump to recipe” button and you will be taken to the list of ingredients and the directions. Enjoy! xoxo Helen & Billie
Any suggested substitutions for the tomato if someone is allergic to them?
Hi Vera! You can either omit the tomatoes and add some extra amounts of the other ingredients or use something different like some chopped up red pepper. Will be just as pretty, and yummy! Enjoy! xoxo Helen & Billie