Things I Love: Sour Cream (and a great way to use it)

On this dreary Brexit morning, it seems necessary to find reasons to rejoice. It's a little thing, but when I opened this container of Sidehill Farm sour cream (new to me), I discovered a remarkable substance.  It is unlike any sour cream I've encountered in the past.  Almost yellow, it has a rich full lively flavor; you think of green meadows filled with spring flowers.  Piled onto the just-picked strawberries I bought at the farmstead down the road, it made me happy to be alive. Later, I think, I'll make this Borscht Salad.  It's the perfect vehicle for great sour cream.

Borscht Salad (adapted from a Fergus Henderson recipe)

Shopping list: 3 beets, ½ small red cabbage, 1 green apple, 1 orange, sour cream

Staples: 1/2 red onion, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt.

Serves 6.

Peel 3 raw beets and grate them.  (You might want to use rubber gloves, or your hands will be magenta for quite a while.)  Peel and grate a green apple and stir that into the beets.

Slice half a small red cabbage as thinly as you can. Do the same with a small red onion. Toss them with the beet/apple mixture.

Squeeze an orange and measure out 2 tablespoons of juice. Mix it with a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon onto 6 plates and top each serving with a dollop of sour cream.