Massaged Red Russian Kale {Spring Serendipity}

We have a new, mini farmers' market opportunity on Saturday morning. By 'mini' I mean one farm. Serendipity Farms out of Carmel Valley. Farmer Jamie sets up her fresh produce in the parking lot of one of my favorite coffee shops. So, I usually grab my Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf and off we go. It's the perfect place to pick up some amazing produce that I need in addition to our weekly CSA box from High Ground Organics. We love supporting local-to-us farms...and I didn't get our full box this week. Since we were out of town for Spring Break, I had my parents pick up our CSA. My mom took what she was going to use and left the rest in my fridge. So, it was Serendipity to the rescue for our Easter menu.

I knew that I wanted to serve lots and lots of Spring vegetables. When D saw the Red Russian Kale, he offered to make a massaged salad. Ever since he made that first Kale-Had-a-Hard-Day Salad, he's been honing his skills. The kid makes a killer massaged kale salad.

Funny story: when Jamie shared that Red Russian Kale wasn't one of her bigger sellers, D whispered to me that it was his favorite and we had to go every Saturday to buy some so 'they didn't feel neglected.' Okay. In any case, here's D's Massaged Red Russian Kale recipe...from yesterday. He changes it every time he makes it - I don't know where he gets that! - and he went super heavy on the citrus yesterday. It was a hit!

Ingredients

• 1 to 2 bunches Red Russian kale, larger ribs removed and chopped into 1" pieces
• 2 to 4 T olive oil
• zest from 2 organic lemons
• juice from 4 organic lemons
• freshly ground sea salt
• freshly ground pepper
• fresh herbs, destemmed and roughly chopped (we used a mix of purple sage, golden sage, cilantro, parsley, mint, and oregano)

Procedure
Place the kale in a large mixing bowl and pour the olive oil and lemon juice over the leaves. Massage until the leaves are softened and have turned from a greyish-green to a bright, deep emerald. Toss in the herbs. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving so that the herbs have a chance to meld into the salad.