How to use the dill-icious seeds, leaves & flowers
Dill is a summer herb you can play with – it's hard to overdo it. The piquant flavour is similar to capers, a fresh, pungent mixture of fennel, citrus, and mint, with a touch of sea air.
Dill is the perfect complement to fish, and this is its main claim to fame. It's superb with salmon. One of my favourite pizza toppings is salmon, dill, capers, and sour cream.
The delicate, sour-fresh leaves enhance summery potato and green salads, coleslaw, courgettes, carrots, tomatoes, asparagus, mushrooms, broad beans, eggplant, cucumber, eggs, cream cheese, and meat. It adds a bright, verdant flavour to grain salads, such as couscous, brown rice, macaroni, and chickpeas.
LEAVES
The leaf flavour is delicate, and much of it is lost when dried or cooked. If you're adding it to a hot dish, do it just before serving, as you would with coriander.
■ use it with chives, parsley, mint, tarragon, coriander, lemon, cream cheese, sour cream, green salads, and meat.
■ chop fresh dill into your salad dressings, dips, and spreads.
■ serve hot beetroot with scissored dill and sour cream or yogurt.
■ bake fish on a bed of dill sprigs or top your grilled or barbecued fish with delicious dill butter.
■ sprinkle freshly scissored dill over tomato, potato, pumpkin, and fish chowder. ■ make dill vinegar with dried leaves or seeds to use in dressings and marinades when fresh dill is unavailable.
SEEDS
In the green stage, seeds have a tangy, citrus, and caraway-like flavour. Dried, they are even punchier, a zesty combination of caraway and anise. They're also rich in magnesium, iron, calcium, and vitamin C. ■ unlike the fresh leaf, seeds stand cooking and are delicious baked in crackers, cookies, cakes, and pies.
■ enhance stronger flavoured vegetables such as beetroot.
■ add to stews, casseroles, fish cocktails, and salad dressings.
■ add 1 tbsp dill seeds to bread dough.
■ use to flavour cakes and cookies.
FLOWERS
The flattened umbels of bright yellow flowers are highly decorative, with a distinct dill flavour.
■ whole umbels can decorate homemade pickled gherkins and cucumbers.
■ add to home-made vinegars.
■ small flowers make a delightful dillflavoured garnish – snip florets into green salads, coleslaw, butter, egg dishes, and potato salads.