I was happy to take part in the first mobile market of the season with BREADA to host a food demo. Though still warm out, there was a great variety of fall produce. I decided to make a fall salad with a fresh satsuma balsamic vinaigrette. I’ve eaten many salads that have included kale, but I decided to make it the base. The trick is to tear it small and add it to the vinaigrette first to help it break down quicker and be less bitter. Turnips, often boiled or roasted, are great raw and made a great addition to the salad. They were peeled and thinly sliced or shaved using a mandolin. If a mandolin is not part of your kitchen tools, a potato peeler or box grater on the smallest setting would also work. While I love veggies, I prefer to add meat to the dish. You can really add any protein of choice, a piece of fish, baked or grilled chicken, grilled steak or even a pork chop if desired. It was great to see so many people try the dish and not only like it, but buy kale to try something new at home. The ingredients and directions for the salad and vinaigrette are listed below. Enjoy!

Vinaigrette Ingredients:
2 satsumas juiced by hand or juicer (about 1/4 cup of liquid)
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. coarse black pepper
Pinch of salt

Salad ingredients:
3 cups chopped or ripped kale
1/4 cup shaved turnips
1/3 cup sliced cucumber
1/3 cup sliced zucchini
1/8 cup diced bell pepper
1/8 cup diced green onion

Directions:
1. Peel 2 small to medium-satsuma (small orange). Over a medium-sized bowl, juice sections of the fruit at a time. Remove seeds, if any.
2. Add balsamic vinegar and oil and whisk until well blended. Add seasonings and mix well.
3. Rinse kale and set on a paper towel. Remove the leaf from the stem and rip into small bite-sized pieces into the bowl with the vinaigrette. Mix with tongs or a fork until kale is well coated.
4. Peel two small turnip roots with a potato peeler and slice with a mandolin over the bowl or if using the peeler or box grater, on a plate before adding to the bowl. Stir to coat turnips in dressing.
5. Wash zucchini and cucumber and cut off both ends. Slice the zucchini in half longwise before cutting the half in half and then into thin slices. Repeat with cucumber and add both to the bowl.
6. Wash green onion and bell pepper. Cut off the tips of a few green onion stems before chopping roughly until you have roughly 1/8 of a cup and adding to bowl. Cut of a fourth of the bell pepper and remove any seeds before slicing thinly and chopping it small.
7. Toss salad, plate and enjoy.