This sandwich was never supposed to happen.

My initial goal for this recipe was to make Cobb salad stacks à la the wedge salad stacks in Deb’s Smitten Kitchen cookbook. It’s a wonderful, smart way to make a wedge salad, and I thought I could employ the same techniques when making a Cobb salad. I found out a fun fact along the way: Romaine lettuce doesn’t really like being sliced into rounds. Since the leaves aren’t as large as ones on a head of iceberg lettuce, the rounds just sort of fell apart. So, that idea was scrapped.

You know what I like better than salads, anyway? Sandwiches.

Sandwiches are better than a salad, even if you have all the same components of a salad there. There’s some kind of magic that happens when lots ingredients get smushed between two pieces of bread. I don’t know what it is, and I can’t explain it, it’s just good. You put roasted chicken, lettuce, tomato, bacon, hard-boiled egg, chives, feta cheese and avocado-herb dressing together in a bowl, and sure, it’ll taste pretty nice. Put it between two halves of a poppy seed roll, though, and it’s outstanding. Seriously, I thought this tasted much better as a sandwich than it did as a salad. Give it a shot, and maybe you’ll agree?

cobb salad sandwiches with chicken, bacon + hard-boiled egg
makes one sandwich

2-4 ounces cooked chicken, chopped or pulled into small pieces (I went the rotisserie-storebought route, but use whatever you like)
2 leaves butter lettuce, rinsed and dried
2 slices red ripe tomato
4 slices cooked bacon, torn in half
2 tsp chopped fresh chives
1 Tbs crumbled feta cheese (blue cheese is traditional, but I don’t like it – feta is a good sub!)
1 hard-boiled egg, peeled and chopped small
4 Tbs avocado-herb dressing (recipe follows)
fresh black pepper
1 poppy seed kaiser roll, sliced lengthwise

avocado-herb dressing
yields 2 cups

1 ripe avocado, cut into chunks
3/4 c milk
1/2 c sour cream
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbs dried dill
2 Tbs fresh chives
2 Tbs fresh parsley
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice

For the dressing, put all ingredients into a food processor or blender (or use a handy-dandy immersion blender) and process until fully smooth and no chunks remain. Add a little more milk if you want a thinner dressing! This recipe makes enough for plenty of sandwiches.

For your hard-boiled egg: Place one egg (or more, if you want more) into a pot. Cover the egg with cold water, to about 1 inch over the top of the egg. Set the pot on the stovetop and let the water come to a boil. Once the water is boiling, cover with a lid and remove the pot from the heat. Set your timer for 10-12 minutes, and then you should have a perfectly hard-boiled egg! Let the egg(s) sit in a bowl of ice water to cool, then peel and chop into small pieces.

Sandwich assembly: Place your sliced sandwich roll on a cutting board and drizzle some dressing on both sides of the roll. On one side, scatter your chopped hard-boiled egg, and the other side with the crumbled feta/blue cheese. Top each side with one lettuce leaf, followed by a little more dressing. Put your tomato slices on one side, and the pieces of bacon on the other. On the bacon side, pile on your cooked chicken, followed by a little more dressing, the chopped chives, and a good dose of fresh ground black pepper. Put some pepper on the tomato side as well, and carefully put the two halves together. Boom, you have a tasty sandwich. It’s magic!

My favorite accompaniment to a glorious sandwich such as this, is a hefty pile of good, salty kettle-style potato chips and an icy cold Dr. Pepper. Serve it with the sides of your choice, and relish in the fact that you’re eating an amazing sandwich, not some lowly, boring salad.