Uses for fresh dill weed?

[murphymom]

So, I got a big honking bunch of the stuff in the CSA box this week. Hate to waste it, but the only thing I've ever used dill in is cucumber salad (with yogurt, dill weed, white wine vinegar, salt & pepper and a little onion) and clam dip.

Maybe I could hang it in a cool dark place and dry it?

If there are any pickle makers out there, I'd like to try my hand at dill pickles or pickled dilled green beans, but all the recipes I've seen call for either dill seed or heads of dill. Can I substitute the fresh dill weed, and how much would I use?

Thanks!

[Shakespeare]

1. I see you're in Oregon--do you like salmon?

You (like me, down in Sonoma) should be able to get fresh wild-caught salmon right now. My favorite way to cook it is to wrap a long stalk of fresh dill a couple of times around a filet (and if the stalk is long enough, I just knot it like it's a piece of string), brush with olive oil, sprinkle on a little kosher salt, and throw it on the grill for a few minutes. Absolute heaven.

If you don't use it all, dill does dry well (and retains a lot of flavor).

[theHandpuppet]

6. Oh yes -- delicious with salmon!

I grow my own and love to wrap the salmon in fresh dill.

I also harvest and dry the weed and use it throughout the year. Just let the dill (sans larger stems) dry in a tray for a week or so then transfer it to a brown paper bag and hand it up to complete drying. The herb can be used for many salads, including potato, tuna and egg. It can also be mixed with mayo or sour cream for a great veggie dip.

BTW, veggie-loving insects hate dill and if you plant it around your garden it will help keep the pests away. Even scrap stem pieces and roots tossed about will help deter pests. Just be careful where you plant it -- proximity doesn't affect most veggies, but lettuce can become bitter.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

2. I love dill,

but the only thing I've used it for is tuna salad, tartar sauce, beef stroganoff, & salmon.

I hope someone jumps in with some great recipes since I would like them too. :)

best

[NMDemDist2]

3. cold dill cucumber soup, a summer favorite!!

this recipe is pretty close to mine

3 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped IN ADDITION
1 C peeled, seeded and finely diced cucumber
1 C plain yogurt
2/3 C sour cream
1/2 tsp. English-style dry mustard
1/4 C chopped fresh dill sprigs for garnish
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. white pepper

Yield 4 1/2 Cups, Serves 6

In a blender purée chopped cucumbers, yogurt, sour cream, mustard, salt and white pepper and transfer to a bowl. Chill soup 6 hours or overnight. Stir in finely diced cucumber and fresh dill. Garnish soup with cucumber slices.




and here's a whole site with ideas too

http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/dill.html

[OldLeftieLawyer]

4. My favorite use for dill

http://tinyurl.com/9jw4s

Substitute a tablespoon - maybe more - of fresh dill for the 1 teaspoon of dried called for in the recipe. It really makes it great.

[livetohike]

5. Add fresh dill to the dressing you use cole slaw

I just mix mayo and sour cream, add a little sugar to taste, salt and pepper and fresh dill.

[theHandpuppet]

7. Here are some recipe links

Enjoy!

http://www.spicebarn.com/dill_recipes.htm
http://www.gardensablaze.com/HerbDillRec.htm
http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/aa090902a.htm
http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=dill

[supernova]

8. Sprinkled on toasted rye bread

when I was a kid this was a favorite snack of mine:

Toast a piece of rye bread w/ caraway seeds and butter it. Sprinkle generously with dill. In fact, make the surface positively green!

I haven't done this in a long time; I don't eat regular bread anymore. But it's still delicious! :9 :D

[eleny]

9. Chilled Beet Soup

2 cans of julienned or diced beets with the beet juice, chilled
1 medium diced onion
1 large diced cucumber - seeds removed
small container of sour cream
2 of the soup cans of cold water
dill to your taste - I use a tablespoon of the flowers
salt to taste

combine beets, cukes and onion
mix one can of water with the sour cream and whisk to soften the sour cream
add this to the vegetables
add more water to thin it to a soup consistency
add the dill
chill the soup and then add salt to taste

This soup tastes nothing like beets do when they're hot. The dill makes it have a heavenly fragrance and the color is as pretty as a soup can get. It looks like a raspberry cream.

Dill is also used when making - Dill Pickles!

[murphymom]

11. The sour cream

reminds me of the barscz (beet soup) my grandmother used to make, although hers was a hot soup. She cooked the beets in beef broth, sometimes with a little of the beet greens added, then put in sauteed mushrooms, mixed sour cream with a little cornstarch for thickening in to make a bright pink soup, then floated slices of hard-cooked egg on the top. I've never seen a recipe quite like hers.

I think barscz is one of those dishes, like minestrone, or spaghetti sauce, where everybody's grandma make the only "real, authentic" version but everyone is different!

I'm going to try your recipe - along with the dill weed I got a bunch of beets in the last CSA box that I haven't used yet.

[eleny]

12. I like the hot version, too

I started using lamb for the meat and like it a lot. But beef is the traditional way. Lamb sort of winds up tasting like fresh pork. Maybe the beets overpower it. There's never enough beet greens for my taste. So I use swiss chard to supplement and that works great. I can't tell the difference in the flavor. I'd love to have a bowl like your grandma made it!

Lithuanians also use the sour cream in the hot version. I like cold boiled potatoes on the side if I leave off the sour cream in the hot version. And isn't the final color so pretty?

I hope you enjoy the chilled version. Play around with the water to get it right. You'll know. I wanted to make some today but then it turned chilly and rainy again. As soon as it warms up at the end of the week, I'm heading out for ingredients. Nothing says summer like the fragrance of fresh dill. My mom would freeze sprigs of fresh dill in ice cubes.

[yellowdogintexas]

10. put it in the steamer with squash, zuchini, or green beans nt

[eleny]

13. Mmmmmmmmmmm!!!

[Tsiyu]

14. If you bake your own bread, you can add it to dough

(white bread) with some dehydrated onion for "Onion Dill Bread." Also might work in bisuits, but I never tried this.

[demnan]

15. Dill Pickles recipe

Take a plastic container and fill with fresh pickling cucumbers slice in half or quarters if you like.

put in 1/4 cup koshering salt
dill weed
10 cloves of crushed garlic

Put in 1 part distilled vinegar and 1 part filtered water to the top of the container.

Let sit for a couple of days in the fridge. Enjoy!