SALAD DAZE!

I LOVE salads!  I probably have salad 5 times a week throughout the year, but THIS salad is my favorite hands down.  I adore avocados, blue cheese, lemon vinaigrette and arugula.  Combine those ingredients with rotisserie chicken and applewood smoked bacon and I’m really in heaven.  

This salad can easily be doubled or tripled for a group, and it can all be made ahead and then tossed together just before serving.

ROTISSERIE CHICKEN COBB SALAD

1 Rotisserie chicken

Extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 pound thick-cut applewood smoked bacon

For the vinaigrette:

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice 

5 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 TBSP Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 ripe Hass avocados

Juice of 1 lemon

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved through the stem

1 cup diced English Stilton, or other crumbly blue cheese

3 oz baby arugula

Pull apart the rotisserie chicken and set aside.

Place a baking rack on a sheet pan and lay the bacon out on the rack in one layer. Roast the bacon at 350 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes until browned and cooked. Set the bacon aside, until cool enough to handle and cut in large dice.

Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette: Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, salt, and pepper in a measuring cup and set aside.

Cut the avocados in half, remove the seeds, and peel. Cut into 1-inch dice, toss with the lemon juice, and set aside.

Place the chicken and tomatoes in a large serving bowl. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and enough vinaigrette to moisten. Toss well. Add the avocados, bacon, Stilton, arugula, and additional vinaigrette and toss carefully. Serve at room temperature.

*Recipe adapted from Ina Garten