NJ SPICE

I must think it’s summer, because I just could not resist buying watermelon the other day.

I chunked some up for salsa, mixing it with chopped jalapeno, radish, scallion, and cilantro. I juiced half a lime into it with my grooved wooden thingy (the best!), and there you go, some wonderfully sassy salsa.

I had mine with rajas y crema, from the New York Times a couple weeks ago, to cut the richness of that, which comes from a liberal dose of Mexican crema, if you can get it, otherwise use crème fraîche. 

I used to always keep sour cream on hand for Mexican cooking, but over the years have come to prefer crème fraîche, or, if I am near a Hispanic market (like that little place at the Trenton Farmers Market – El Tepeyak?), true Mexican crema.  Of course, if I have cream on hand, and buttermilk, I can make my own crème fraîche.  But you can’t find small cartons of buttermilk in the east, as I used to be able to in the west, so I usually just end up buying crème fraîche readymade.  Seems expensive until I think about all the buttermilk I didn’t use up.  Sometimes I freeze leftover buttermilk, but then it’s watery, although not hopeless for baking purposes.