Tassajara Warm Red Cabbage Salad

This. is. so. good.  It's healthy but satisfying, simple but full of flavor, quick but complex, and eating it just makes you feel good.  It's perfect for all those resolutions we swear we're going to keep this year (you know the one's I'm talking about).  Make a better effort this year.  Make this salad.

Tassajara Warm Red Cabbage Salad
This is actually quite similar to the Warm Brussel Sprout Salad I featured a couple weeks ago.  Like the brussel sprout salad, it's great for winter because, well, it's warm!  Heidi's recipe uses feta but I enjoyed this salad with goat cheese-- it lent a nice creaminess and subtle tang, both of which worked well with the balsamic.  Experiment as you like, just let me know how it turns out.
Adapted from 101Cookbooks

Ingredients
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon natural cane sugar (or brown sugar)
fine grain sea salt
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 red onion, diced
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 pound head of red cabbage or radicchio, quartered and cut into thin ribbons
2 ounces golden raisins (or other plump, chopped dried fruit)
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

Preparation
Roast the sunflower seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Sprinkle on the sugar, and a couple pinches of salt. Stir until the sugar melts and coats the seeds (you pan will need to be hot enough). Transfer the seeds immediately to a plate so they don't stick to the pan. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and saute the onion for a minutes or two with a couple pinches of salt. Stir in the garlic, and the cabbage, and a few more pinches of salt. Stir and cook for just a minute or so, or until the cabbage softens up just a touch. Then stir in most of the raisins and the vinegar. The cabbage will continue to get more and more tender even after you remove it from the heat, so keep that in mind, and do your best to avoid overcooking it - where it collapses entirely.

Fold in half of the goat cheese, most of the sunflower seeds, then taste. Season with more salt if needed. Serve garnished with the remaining raisins, goat cheese, and sunflower seeds

Serves 4 to 6.

This recipe was adapted from The Complete Tassajara Cookbook by Edward Espe Brown. Published by Shambhala (September 8, 2009)