A few months ago I had the wonderful opportunity to go to The Club at Barefoot Beach in Bonita Springs. This is a private beach club with a pool, restaurant and private beach access. You can only access the club if you have a membership. But my mom got a day pass because she was the high bidder on an auction at a charity event. I was lucky enough to join her on this relaxing day at the beach. We had our own waiter that took care of our every need. Even though they have an incredible restaurant and pool side dining, we decided it would be fun to eat on the beach. With the sea breeze blowing and the sand in my toes, it seemed only fitting that I ordered a seafood cobb salad for lunch. The freshness of the hearts of palm, avocado and shrimp melded with the crunchy calamari and bacon making this salad so tasty and filling. So of course, I had to recreate my version of this salad!
The inspiration from The Club at Barefoot Beach 
My version of the Seafood Cobb Salad
Although I had this as a single serving version for lunch, I made it into a larger portion so I could serve it for dinner. It would also be an impressive addition to your next pot-luck or cook-out. With all the fresh and hearty ingredients in this, it’s perfect for dinner. But that also means as a dinner version it’s a lot for one bowl. So before you get started get a really big salad bowl or platter to plate it. I made it in my regular salad bowl and it was a little too small.
The original salad had pickled red onions on it. Pickling red onions takes time and they are hard to find in the store, so I replaced them with thinly sliced red onion. If you have some time to pickle the onions, they add a nice tartness to the salad that compliments the brininess of the seafood.
There are so many options to the seafood you could use for this. So don’t limit yourself to the crabmeat, shrimp and calamari. It would work well with bay scallops, lobster meat, or even coconut shrimp. Using some type of fried seafood, while not as healthy, adds a great crunch to the salad. I would never have put fried calamari on this salad, had I created it. But it added texture needed for the salad. Nuts or fried onions would also work well.
Start building the salad with chopped romaine lettuce. Place the bacon, tomatoes, hearts of palm, onions and avocado “pinwheel” style around the top of the romaine. Then pile the seafood in the middle! Squeeze some fresh lemon juice over the salad just before you serve it. Serve with the creamy balsamic dressing on the side. It’s really that easy. This recipe is so versatile. I already have plans to try this with langostino lobsters and pickled beets. I’d love to see your version of this salad. Comment below with your versions of the salad. And I would love to see your pictures too!
Seafood Cobb Salad with Balsamic dressing
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 heads chopped romaine
- 1 large chopped tomato
- 2 hard boiled eggs
- 1/2 lb. bacon, crumbled
- 1 avocado, diced
- 14 oz. hearts of palm, salad cut 1 can
- 1 cup purple onion, sliced thin can be pickled
- 1 1/2 cups fried calamari
- 1 1/2 cups steamed shrimp
- 1 cup fresh crab meat optional
Creamy Balsamic Dressing
- 2 cloves crushed garlic
- 3 tbsp greek yogurt
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp Italian herbs
Instructions
- Arrange lettuce in a large bowl
- Place tomato, bacon, avocado, hearts of palm, onions, and egg on top. Place the shrimp, crab meat and calamari in the middle. Squeeze two slices of lemon juice over the salad.
- For the dressing, add all ingredients to a small bowl and whisk together.
Thank you 🥰