Cobb Salad Re-creation

I am obsessed with this Cobb Salad from the Stanford Grill in Columbia, MD, but haven't been able to get back to the restaurant to have another one. I've written about it before and it's this delicious combo of eggs, bacon, bleu cheese, rotisserie chicken, and cornbread croutons with an avocado ranch dressing. I figured, if I can't get to the salad then I'll bring the salad to me and make it at home. How hard can it be?

To me the cornbread croutons make this salad and they were a must. You can make your own cornbread from scratch or if you're in a rush like me, purchase some from your local grocery store. Cut the bread up into 1 inch squares, toss in a bowl with 1/4 cup olive oil and salt and pepper, and bake at 375 for 7-10 minutes until crispy.

For the salad you simply chop up a head of iceberg lettuce, hard boil approximately 6 eggs, cook 6 slices of bacon and slice, and shred a rotisserie chicken. You can purchase bleu cheese crumbles prepackaged at the grocery store. I ended up having to buy a package of grilled chicken cubes because when you grocery shop at 8 in the morning rotisserie chickens are nowhere to be found. I would have preferred the rotisserie chicken but the cubes were passable.

To serve, add the lettuce to a large bowl and top with the other ingredients. You can mix them all together but placing them in lines before you toss makes for an elegant presentation.

The avocado ranch dressing is really easy to make. Mash one large avocado in a bowl, then add in 1/2 cup of sour cream, 1/4 cup of milk, 3 cloves of minced garlic, 1 tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1 1/2 teaspoon of rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons of dried parsley, and a 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Chill until ready to serve. You can add more milk if your dressing is too thick.

My version was pretty close to the original and hit the spot!