Initiation of Recipe Day!

Hello all you locally fresh and organically inclined people. Sorry for the short hiatus but we're back with a brand new weekly contribution to your cooking lives! Every Monday we will provide you with a refreshingly new recipe featuring ingredients you can find at our markets. It may be some weird looking squash you've been too afraid to try or possibly some obscure spice or seed you never knew you could use in smoothies, or simply some weekly staples that you want to use in a new, more exciting way. We all have to eat and the cook is always the most respected in the room, so why not steal one of these recipes and impress your friends and families?

Kale is a strange and mysterious green but there's this secret about cooking it without really cooking it; massage it with salt! Some molecular thing happens that makes it super tender and tasty. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Massaged Kale Salad
Ingredients
1 large bunch of kale, stalks removed and discarded, leaves thinly sliced into strips
(if you've never cut kale before check this out!)
1 lemon juiced
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup sunflower seeds raw or toasted
1/4 cup diced shallot
1/3 cup currants
1/2 apple, cut into matchstick like strips
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese (optional!)

Directions
In a large bowl, add the kale, half of lemon juice and salt. Massage the kale for about 2 minutes (this will feel like a long time), the kale should reduce in volume by about 1/3. Add salt if it doesn't seem to be shrinking enough.
Gently stir in sunflower seeds, shallots, currants, and apple
Dress with oil and vinegar and toss
Alter salt and vinegar and remaining lemon juice to taste
Add cheese if desired.

Alternative Dressing
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons tahini
1 teaspoon honey
1 lemon juiced
salt and pepper to taste