Cobb Salad

I consider this to be the king of salads- totally old school, definitely not diet food.  I could have probably hunted down a large game animal, field dressed it, smoked it and made sausage out of it in less time than it takes to make this salad, but heck- it's worth every second of prep work! This is adapted from Food and Wine magazine. You could always save time by buying the dressing of your choice rather than making it. You can do this on one large platter or on individual plates- I won't give you specific amounts for the salad ingredients- just use what you need to fill the rows.

For the dressing:
1 Vidalia onion, peeled, cut into quarters and lightly brushed with EVOO
4 garlic cloves (I used already peeled ones and wrapped them in foil)
3/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 t kosher salt
freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425º and roast the onion and garlic together; take out the garlic after 30 minutes and leave the onion in for another 30 minutes (for a total of 1 hour). Let cool. In a blender, puree all the ingredients except the oil; add the oil in a steady stream while running the blender until incorporated.

For the salad:
spring lettuce (bottom layer of the salad)
hard boiled eggs, sliced
blue cheese, crumbled
bacon, cooked and crumbled
grilled rosemary chicken, diced or any cubed chicken
diced tomatoes (looks real purty with multiple varieties of tomatoes)
grilled corn, cut off the cob
salted pecans or walnuts, small diced
pea shoots
avocado, cubed

Serve the dressing on the side and drizzle desired amount over the salad.
Divine!