Layered Cobb Salad

I am a real salad lover. I could eat a salad for every meal of the day. Todd, he's not so fond of salads, but he does admit that salads are a lot tastier and more interesting since he met me. No lettuce leaf with a few limp slices of tomato, cucumber and no dressing . . . my salads are filled with colour and crunch and, yes . . . interest!

My mother made great salads. We had a tossed salad every Sunday with our Sunday dinner . . . she made the dressing herself. It would be started early in the afternoon. A bit of vinegar would be put in the bottom of the salad bowl along with some finely chopped onion and salt and pepper.

The vinegar almost pickled the onion and took away any harshness from it. Later on she would add salad oil and the salad ingredients, toss the whole lot together and the salad was done. Deeeee-licious. Much tastier than any bottled dressing.

Celery, cucumber, iceberg lettuce and tomatoes . . . . there was nothing complicated about it. Just a simple salad, but so delicious. We just didn't have the variety of ingredients available when I was growing up that we have now. We are such lucky people to have all the vegetables and other things we now have to use for our salads! The world is literally our oyster!

Cobb Salad has to be one of my favourite salads . . . crisp iceberg lettuce, rich and indulgent creamy ripe avocado . . . ripe sweet tomatoes, sharp spring onions . . . crisp and salty bacon and rich and tangy blue cheese. All with a deliciously creamy dressing!

I toss the lettuce with a bit of the dressing and then layer up all the ingredients in a ring, like a delicious salady tower of taste. Scrumdiddlyumptiously tasty! And its pretty easy on the eyes also!

*Layered Cobb Salad*

Serves 4

Not only delicious but very pretty to look as as well!

• 2 1/4 ounces smoked bacon, cut into matchsticks (3/4 cup)
• 1 head of iceberg lettuce, chopped (4 cups)
• 2 ripe tomatoes, cored, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1 large ripe avocado, pitted, peeeld and cubed
• 4 ounces blue cheese, chilled and crumbled (1 cup)
• 4 spring onions, white part only, trimmed, peeled and sliced thinly
• For the dressing:
• 125g of low fat plain yogurt (1/2 cup)
• 2 TBS fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
• Cracked black pepper to serve
• First
• make the dressing. Combine all of the ingredients in a jar and shake
• well together. Taste and adjust seasoning as required. You can use
• this dressing right away, or store, covered, in the refrigerator for up
• to one week.
• Brown the bacon in a large skillet, over
• medium heat, until crisp. Scopp out and drain. Set aside. Taking
• four metal rings or clear glass dishes, layer up the salad ingredients,
• tossing the lettuce first with a small amount of dressing. Do this on
• individual chilled salad plates. I like to layer them with the lettuce
• first, then the avocado, then tomatoes, spring onions, cheese and bacin

last. Press gently to compact, then carefully remove the rings.

Drizzle with a bit more dressing, dust with some cracked black pepper

and serve.

I used turkey bacon for this on the day that we had it. I don't recommend. Blah. Blah. Blah. Not near as tasty or as texturally pleasing as real streaky bacon. Just healthier I suppose.

This lemon and yogurt dressing is to die for.

But you use what you want to! Bon Appetit!