Dill is just about one of the prettiest herbs we know! It's so light and feathery, we'd grow it for looks even if it weren't so tasty in many of our favorite dishes. Fresh or dry, dill has a unique flavor that we find hard to put into words. How would you describe it?
Dill is actually native to southwest Asia and India, though it's now grown world-wide. Any sunny windowsill or patch of garden will do, really! The stems are fairly tough, but the lacy leaves are tender and flavorful. You can buy dill dried, but the flavor isn't quite as deep.
Dill is fantastic with fish of all kinds. You can use it in a marinade or sprinkle it on toward the end of cooking. We sometimes like kneading dill into a bit of butter to melt over the fish - and spread on our dinner rolls! Dill is also a nice pairing with many root vegetables, like potatoes, carrots, and parsnips.
Last summer, we discovered how much we love dill mixed in with salad greens. It's the perfect bright flavor next to sweet butter lettuce and spicy arugula. You can also mix dill into cream cheese, sour cream, or yogurt to make a quick condiment or dip for chips. Oh, and of course, dill flowers are absolutely necessary to make dill pickles!
However you choose to use it, add dill toward the end of cooking. It's strong flavor is surprisingly delicate under heat and can diminish quickly.
Here are a few dill-spiked recipes to try!
• Yogurt Biscuits with Dill
• Tomato Salad with Red Onion, Dill, and Feta
• Skillet-Baked Feta and Ricotta Pie with Dill
• Dill and Yogurt Chicken Salad
How do you like using dill?
Related: How Can I Make Better Fat-Free Yogurt Dips?
(Image: Flickr member quinn.anya licensed under Creative Commons)
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I think dill goes particularly well with eggs--I love it in omelettes. Oh, and of course in chicken soup--I like to add huge handfuls of chopped dill and parsley right at the end. Yum!
Pickle-y!
Dill is the best! I can't believe I went so long without it.
My husband is from Ukraine and is just enamored with dill. I can simply be in the kitchen with the dill on the counter and he'll come running in there to see what I'm making.
I throw fusty fresh dill into a spanakopita -- delicious!
Oops, I meant spanakopita!
I haven't eaten dill since 2006, when I stayed in southern Russian (near the Black Sea) for more than a month during the summer, and ate it at virtually every meal. (Close to Ukraine, by the way, stephinmd, I guess it's a regional thing!) Lovely at first but by the end of my stay I felt I had eaten enough dill for a lifetime. Maybe I'm ready for some now? I'll have to look at those recipes...
LOVE DILL!! I'm growing it this year because the ONLY place I can find it in Italy (fresh or dried) is in IKEA! Some people I'd asked had recommended using fennel tips as a substitute...yeah, I don't think so. The flavors are completely different!
As a Russian, I love dill and put it in everything. Roasted potatoes or eggplant go very well with dill, as well as cabbage or cucumbers -- basically, any salad can benefit from a dill garnish. Same goes for parsley. Good thing dill grows like a weed in my garden.
I got over-dilled at some point... at my cousin's bridal shower, the finger sandwiches all had dill on them, and were just overpowering and basically inedible to me! Something about the sharpness just hits me wrong. It tastes sharp, sour, a little buttery, and too strong! I can't do cilantro either...
Must be Hannah. :)
I make a corn chowder and I swear it tastes 100 times better with a fresh dill garnish.
I agree with bubble about salads and dill. Especially egg salad. Yum!
I'm probably the only person in the world who hates dill. I just can't stand it, and I never could. It's the only spice I won't use.
I feel in love with dill last year when I started my first garden. I now have a ton of dill plants inside and out.
msbetsy, you're not alone!
I can't eat anything with dill in it, I even have a hard time staying in the same room as it. It's just so overwhelming and reminds me of strong disinfectant.