Farro & Kale Salad

Today is Mother's Day. I spend the day with husband, sister, mom & dad. We toured art galleries on Camano Island, and were surprised to run into friends! There is some wonderful art on Camano Island! We had a great lunch at the Skandia Coffee House in Stanwood, and when we got home we weren't very hungry. So I whipped up this Farro & Kale salad with some farro I had cooked yesterday for a light dinner. I'll have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

This is almost all local. I note after the local ingredients where I got mine.

Farro & Kale Salad

1 cup cooked farro (Bluebird Farms, eastern Washington)
4 cups or 1 bunch kale, thick stems cut out, sliced into strips (from my garden, see note below)
1 shallot, sliced and separated (Klesick Family Farms CSA)
1 cup chopped apple & pear mixed, your choice (mine were from Klesick Family Farms CSA)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (mine weren't local, but you could use local walnuts or hazelnuts)
1/4-1/3 cup chopped chives (from my garden)
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (from Organic Valley, which always uses local farms)
2-3 tablespoons vinegar, such as rice vinegar
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper

I mix the chopped apple & pear with the oil and vinegar thoroughly to keep them from browning. Then I tossed everything else together in a large bowl, stirring thoroughly.
Variations: you could use cooked brown rice in place of the farro.
Note: fresh kale is tender. If you are using store bought kale which has been in storage for a while, you can "massage" it, using the technique from the PCC Markets recipe for "Massaged Kale Salad." How you do this is place the kale alone in a large bowl and sprinkle on the salt. "Massage" it with your fingers, rubbing it for 1-2 minutes. This breaks the toughness down and it is more tender. You do not need to do this with freshly picked kale.