Jenny’s Healthy Cobb Salad
You already know how much I love salad, so I won’t bore you with that again. One of my favorite restaurants on planet earth is the Bentwood Tavern in New Buffalo, Michigan. For years, they had “The Healthy Cobb” on the menu. Then one day, about two years ago, it was gone. I have asked for them to bring it back to no avail. And so, as with my favorite Sweetgreen dupe recipes (harvest bowl, crispy rice bowl), I’ve had to resort to creating this salad in my own home to re-live the deliciousness. I’ve gotten a few requests over the years to share it, so alas, here we are… I am sharing the secrets of the Healthy Cobb.
Downloadable Recipe Card — Here
Yield — Serves 4
Cook time — ~40 mins
What you’ll need:
For the Dressing
1/4 small shallot, finely chopped
2 tbs of white wine vinegar
2 tbs of fresh lemon juice
2 tbs of dijon mustard
2 tbs of olive oil
For the Rice
1 cup brown rice
2 cups of veggie broth
Poached Chicken
4 boneless, skinless, chicken breast
1 lemon, quartered
1 bay leaf, dried or fresh
2 garlic cloves, minced
For the Boiled Eggs
8 Eggs, boiled and halved (tip: buy pre-boiled eggs)
For the Blanched Broccoli
1/2 lb of broccoli florets, blanched and halved
For the Salad
Mixed Greens (usually a blend of baby lettuces, mustards, chards, spinach, arugula, chicory and other young leafy green vegetables)
1 cup Red grapes, halved
1 cup Celery, thinly sliced
1-2 Avocados, to taste, thickly sliced
1/4 cup Almonds, chopped
How to make:
First, let’s get our rice going
Prepare your rice according to the package instructions, general rule of thumb is 1 part rice, 2 parts water or broth. Using a rice cooker, you’ll add 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of broth, press “cook” and your rice will be ready by the time your done prepping everything else. Set aside.
Now, let’s poach our chicken
Fill a medium sauce pan with water, to ensure that you can fully submerge your chicken breasts, your breasts can be snug, but you don’t want to stack them. Add ingredients to the water. Place chicken breast in the water, with a lid on, and bring back to boil. Upon boil, reduce heat to a simmer and let chicken cook until internal temperature reaches 165. Remove from pot. Shred as desired, and set aside.
Next, it’s time to blanch our broccoli
Bring 2 quarts of water and 1 tsp of salt to a boil. Cook the broccoli florets in water for ~2-3 mins. When the broccoli is bright green and just barely tender you are done. Remove broccoli from pot into a strainer, and immediately rinse with cool water and let dry. If desired, cut into halves or quarters for your salad. Set aside.
Now let’s put our dressing together
Combine the shallot, vinegar, and lemon in a medium bowl; season with salt and pepper and let sit a few mins to lightly pickle the shallot. Add mustard and olive oil, stir to combine; season again with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Finally, it’s time to toss our salad!
Combine Salad ingredients with rice, chicken, boiled eggs, and broccoli. Finish with dressing. Toss and enjoy!
