Cobb Salad: Double the Meat and Hold the Lettuce!

Ingredients

• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons grill seasoning blend (recommended: Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick)
• 2 tablespoons hot sauce, eyeball it
• 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, eyeball it
• 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus some for drizzling
• 2 pounds flank steak
• 8 pieces "thin cut" chicken breast cutlets
• 2 slightly under ripe Hass avocados - dark skinned, but still firm
• 2 vine ripe tomatoes cut into wedges
• 2 bunches watercress, trimmed and roughly chopped
• 8 strips bacon, thick sliced
• 1 lemon, zest and juiced
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• Salt and pepper
• 1/3 pound blue cheese, crumbled (recommended Maytag Blue)

Directions

Heat a grill pan or outdoor grill to high heat.

Mix garlic, steak seasoning, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce and vinegar. Whisk in the extra-virgin olive oil. Divide the mixture between 2 shallow dishes. Add the flank steak to one and the thin chicken cutlets to the other. Toss to coat all of the meats thoroughly and marinate for 5 minutes.

While the flank steak and chicken are marinating, cut the avocados in half lengthwise cutting around the pit. Separate the halves then, using a spoon, scoop out the pit, then use the spoon to scoop the avocado from its skin. Chop the avocado flesh into bite size pieces add to a mixing bowl. Add the tomatoes, watercress and crisp chopped bacon. Dress the salad with the juice of 1 lemon and a generous drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

Grill flank steak 6 to 7 minutes on each side. Grill the thin cut chicken cutlets 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Remove both meats from the grill to a cutting board to rest for about 5 minutes. Thinly slice the flank steak on an angle, cutting the meat against the grain. Cut the chicken into thin strips. Add both meats to a platter or dinner plates. Top the meats with a mound of the salad. To make the dressing, combine in a small bowl the lemon zest and juice, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, crumbled blue cheese, whisk in 3 tablespoons EVOO. Pour the dressing over the salad. Eat and enjoy the lack of lettuce getting in your way!

Tidbit

A Cobb Salad is usually a big mound of lettuce topped with strips of chopped chicken, bacon, avocado, tomatoes, hardboiled egg and blue cheese. I love it, but I've noticed that once I mix it up and start eating, my fork is busy fishing around the lettuce trying to catch all the chicken and bacon. So, I decided to hold the lettuce. I did add some watercress, but that's for its great peppery flavor!