What comes to mind when you think of Spring? Is it flowers? Freshly cut grass? Garden parties with too many fat babies in uncomfortable clothes and white hats? NOPE. I think of DILL.
Delicious dill is light, feathery, a bit like biting into a peacock. Every soup I make in the spring usually gets a handful of fresh dill thrown in at the end. Recently, I’ve seen large bunches of steamed dill added to Vietnamese noodle dishes. It took me a moment to figure out what the mass of lumpy green was in my bun but after a bite and a few moments of reflection it came it me: It’s DILL! Genius. This was at my favorite creative Vietnamese spot in the city by the way: Nightingale 9 in Carroll Gardens.
Dill is a weed. Sometimes it’s even referred to as dillweed. Stay away from the dried stuff unless you are making pickles. Fresh dill should be light to the touch with thick firm stalks (if you can find it freshly pulled from the ground). Dill is an herb in the celery family (Apiaceae) whose cousins are as wide and varied as parsnips, cumin and caraway. The feathered leaves look very similar to those of the fennel plant, so be sure to smell for that distinct fresh-cut grass odor before accidentally purchasing baby fennel.
Got a giant bundle of dill? Here’s what to do with it:
Dill is an essential ingredient in Ukrainian Borscht:
In Persian rice:
In Dill Salmon:
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