This Big Italian Cobb Salad is full of all your favorite ingredients like salami, pepperoncinis, tomatoes, artichoke hearts and topped with a creamy Italian style dressing.
I can’t cook without a recipe. So, when I find one that I really like, I make it often enough as to commit it to memory. And memory can be a funny thing, especially for a husband standing in the grocery store aisle. So when I make this big Italian cobb salad, I can’t remember what kind of olives it calls for. I can’t remember if I need arugula or radicchio. I can’t remember how many pepperoncinis I have in the fridge. So I skip the olives because I know we have some at home, I decide on arugula even though it’s wrong, and I grab the pepperoncinis because I love them and I’d rather be safe than sorry.
My wife, as you probably know, is the creative type. She likes to play with her food. She sees a recipe as a suggestion, or a starting point; a springboard for her imagination. She takes chances. She trusts her intuition. She is fearless in the kitchen. She also knows that there are 5 opened jars of pepperoncinis in the fridge.
But, as I said, memory is a funny thing. And this Big Italian Cobb Salad and Creamy Italian Dressing is a new version of an old salad that is triggering lots of memories for me. The tomatoes remind me of our first garden. We had a bumper crop of tomatoes that year. So many, in fact, that we had to make our own ketchup. The artichoke hearts remind me of the first time we cooked artichokes for her family, who had never seen an artichoke before, and her brother, who loved the petals but refused to try the heart. The eggs remind me of the chicken coop I built for her and the kids helped me paint. The celery and salami remind me of the first Muffaletta we shared from Central Grocery as we fell in love with New Orleans and each other. The olives remind me of the Irish couple we met in a martini bar on our honeymoon, where we drank so much vodka and gin that the bell boy had to take us back to our casita in a golf cart. And the pepperoncinis remind me to check the fridge before going to the grocery store.
– Blaine
This Big Italian Cobb Salad and Creamy Italian Dressing has been adapted from Food and Wine’s Big Italian Salad
Big Italian Cobb Salad
A satisfying salad that tastes like it is straight from the pizzeria!
In 4 separate serving bowls divide the lettuce and top with the arugula. divide the remaining salad ingredients among the four bowls.
In a pint jar, add the dressing ingredients. Screw on a lid and shake vigorously until the dressing is combined. Pour the dressing over teach salad and toss to coat. Serve immediately.
