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Snoop’s BBQ Chicken Cobb Salad with All the Good Stuff

Jess Damuck — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 20:52:00 +0000

Photography by Linda Pugliese

This recipe is brought to you by SAVEUR Cookbook Club, a passionate community of food-loving readers from around the globe that features our favorite authors and recipes. Join us as we cook through a new book every two months, and share your food pics and vids on social media with the hashtags #SAVEURCookbookClub and #EatTheWorld.

Over the last few years, I have been creeping in the background of Martha and Snoop Dogg’s amazing friendship— and I just love Snoop. He has an amazing open attitude about cooking and always asks Martha to “teach me how to learn”—but I’ve learned a lot from Snoop too. I credit myself for giving him his first homemade crouton, but he showed me how to make the crispiest bacon ever. He asked me to make him a recipe for a barbecue chicken Cobb salad with all the good stuff in it. It was 100 percent Snoop’s idea to add the homemade blue corn tortilla strips, which was brilliant—it’s exactly what a Cobb salad needs to tie everything together.

Featured in “How to Make a Salad—Mindfully.”

Yield: serves 4

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

For the buttermilk ranch dressing:

¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
¼ cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. distilled white vinegar
Pinch garlic powder
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the chicken:

2 tsp. Lawry’s seasoning salt
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. chili powder
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (8 oz. each)
1 cup Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce

For the toppings:

4 large eggs
Vegetable oil, for frying
4 corn tortillas (preferably blue), cut into ½-in. strips
Kosher salt
½ pound bacon, oven fried or cooked “Snoop style” (see note)

For the salad:

3 heads Little Gem lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces, washed and dried
2 cups (10 oz.) cherry tomatoes, halved
2 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and cut into eighths
¼ cup crumbled blue cheese (2 oz.)
Chives, finely chopped

Instructions

Make the ranch dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, buttermilk, vinegar, garlic powder, and salt and black pepper to taste. Refrigerate until ready to use (up to 1 week).
Make the chicken: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400°F. In a shallow bowl, whisk together the Lawry’s, garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne, and black pepper. Add the chicken and coat with the rub, then transfer to a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Set aside for 15 minutes to allow the salt to penetrate (or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 12 hours). Using a silicone brush, coat the chicken with the barbecue sauce, then bake until cooked through and a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast reads 165°F, 25–30 minutes. When cool enough to handle, slice thickly on the bias.
Make the toppings: Fill a medium bowl with ice water and bring a medium pot of water to boil. Lower in the eggs, then boil for 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to the ice bath. When cool enough to handle, peel and quarter the eggs lengthwise. Wipe out the pot to dry completely and return it to the stove.
To the empty pot, add oil to a depth of ½ inch and turn the heat to medium-high. When an instant-read thermometer reads 350°F (or the oil bubbles when you drop a tortilla strip in it), add the strips and fry until golden brown, about 1 minute. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate and season with salt.
Make the salad: Arrange the lettuce on a serving platter, then top with the tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocado. Decorate with the egg and sprinkle with the blue cheese. Fan the chicken slices over the top, then drizzle with the dressing and top with the chives, tortilla strips, and black pepper.

Note: I was mesmerized, I was shocked, I was anxious as I watched Snoop from the television monitor in the back kitchen as he dumped strips of bacon into a hot pan, piled up on top of each other in a big clump. He swirled it around occasionally for about 15 minutes with a pair of tongs while he talked. I had always laid each strip flat, neatly fitting them in the pan, sometimes having to make multiple batches. But he dumped the bacon onto a paper towel–lined plate, and I saw how perfectly crispy and extra curly it was. I have never made bacon the old way again.

The post Snoop’s BBQ Chicken Cobb Salad with All the Good Stuff appeared first on Saveur.

Jess Damuck’s Caesar Salad Pizza

Jess Damuck — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 20:51:59 +0000

Photography by Linda Pugliese

My friend Shira said that her daughter Nova thought spreading the mustard on the raw dough of this pizza was a mistake, like the time I wore a jumpsuit with big pockets on the front and Nova thought I was wearing my pants backwards. But she ate it and thought it was magnificent, just like oversize patch pockets. I love that, and I love piling my pizza high with salad and making it feel healthier but still indulgent at the same time.

Note: Bake times vary widely depending on how your oven is retains heat; start checking the crust after 6 minutes and the escarole after 2.

Featured in “How to Make a Salad—Mindfully.”

Yield: serves 4

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

For the buttermilk ranch dressing:

¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
¼ cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. distilled white vinegar
Pinch garlic powder
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the chicken:

2 tsp. Lawry’s seasoning salt
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. chili powder
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (8 oz. each)
1 cup Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce

For the toppings:

4 large eggs
Vegetable oil, for frying
4 corn tortillas (preferably blue), cut into ½-in. strips
Kosher salt
½ pound bacon, oven fried or cooked “Snoop style” (see note)

For the salad:

3 heads Little Gem lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces, washed and dried
2 cups (10 oz.) cherry tomatoes, halved
2 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and cut into eighths
¼ cup crumbled blue cheese (2 oz.)
Chives, finely chopped

Instructions

Make the ranch dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, buttermilk, vinegar, garlic powder, and salt and black pepper to taste. Refrigerate until ready to use (up to 1 week).
Make the chicken: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400°F. In a shallow bowl, whisk together the Lawry’s, garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne, and black pepper. Add the chicken and coat with the rub, then transfer to a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Set aside for 15 minutes to allow the salt to penetrate (or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 12 hours). Using a silicone brush, coat the chicken with the barbecue sauce, then bake until cooked through and a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast reads 165°F, 25–30 minutes. When cool enough to handle, slice thickly on the bias.
Make the toppings: Fill a medium bowl with ice water and bring a medium pot of water to boil. Lower in the eggs, then boil for 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to the ice bath. When cool enough to handle, peel and quarter the eggs lengthwise. Wipe out the pot to dry completely and return it to the stove.
To the empty pot, add oil to a depth of ½ inch and turn the heat to medium-high. When an instant-read thermometer reads 350°F (or the oil bubbles when you drop a tortilla strip in it), add the strips and fry until golden brown, about 1 minute. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate and season with salt.
Make the salad: Arrange the lettuce on a serving platter, then top with the tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocado. Decorate with the egg and sprinkle with the blue cheese. Fan the chicken slices over the top, then drizzle with the dressing and top with the chives, tortilla strips, and black pepper.

*Styling Tip: This is pretty light as far as pizza goes, but serving it with plenty of lemon wedges really brightens it up and makes it—and anything at all—look even more fresh and appealing. Cut lemons or limes in half lengthwise (from tip to tip) and then lengthwise again into sleeker wedges or width-wise into smaller smiley looking “Weeble-Wobbles” for a different look.

The post Jess Damuck’s Caesar Salad Pizza appeared first on Saveur.

How to Make a Salad—Mindfully

Jess Damuck — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 20:51:56 +0000

Photography by Linda Pugliese

This excerpt is brought to you by SAVEUR Cookbook Club, our passionate community of food-loving readers from around the globe that celebrates our favorite authors and recipes. Join us as we cook through a new book every two months, and share your food pics and vids on social media with the hashtags #SAVEURCookbookClub and #EatTheWorld.

It took me a long time to just lean into looking at what I love doing as a form of mindfulness. A quick glance at my bookshelf reveals an almost obsessive interest in self-improvement, spirituality, mindfulness, and meditation. In my intense search for finding the thing that was going to work for me, I found myself fixated on everything I wasn’t doing yet—I was trying too hard.

It’s easy to get lost in making a salad if you let yourself. The prep of washing and sorting lettuce leaves is about as meditative as it gets. Unfortunately, a lot of food media today doesn’t focus on the benefits of spending time preparing good food; it’s all about hacks, shortcuts, and how to get something onto the table with as little effort as possible.

My salads aren’t difficult or time-consuming, but they are designed to be made with intention. What I’m suggesting here isn’t exactly salads as self-care, but also, it is. I’m not saying you’ll have a spiritual experience, but I do hope you’ll be able to focus on each task and let the weight of the day and any other little things in your mind go.

Take a deep breath before you start chopping. Take another look at the spectacular colorful veins of that Swiss chard before you tear it apart. More than anything, acknowledge that you’re making an effort for yourself and maybe someone else and feel good about that.

Recipes

Jess Damuck’s Caesar Salad Pizza

Photography by Linda Pugliese

Get the recipe >

Snoop’s BBQ Chicken Cobb Salad with All the Good Stuff

Photography by Linda Pugliese

Get the recipe >

The post How to Make a Salad—Mindfully appeared first on Saveur.