Potato Salad with Dill and Walnuts

I am a huge dill fan.  In the summer it's perfect in a room-temperature potato salad - filling, crunchy, satisfying.  I wouldn't call it so much a recipe as a combination of ingredients. The recipe is evolving, since the arrival of bags of tri-color mini-potatoes.










~ 1 1/2 lbs fingerling potatoes, or other small, new variety (mesh bag pictured is tri-colored small potatoes
Generous amount of dill, but less than what you buy as a "bunch" - say "half a bunch"
3 ribs celery or one peeled, seeded cucumber
~1/2 c. chopped walnuts
2 dollops* of low-fat mayonnaise (or sour cream or yogurt - or a combination of any of them)
mustard to taste
hard-boiled eggs (optional)
ripe avocado in chunks (optional)

1. Pick some dill, if you're lucky enough to live across from the Sterns garden, which boasts a huge dill plant.

2. Cover the potatoes and boil for about 10-12 minutes, until they're tender. (Less for the minis.) Some of them will burst open.  Let them cool a few minutes and then drain the water.  If you want to add more protein, you can hard boil eggs at the same time.  This was how my mom made potato salad.

3. In the meantime, pick out the tough stems and chop the dill fine.  Put it aside.

4. Take three ribs of celery (or the cucumber.)  Slice it into three long stripe, and then slice the three strips in half.  Then line up the six strips and start chopping away - this is the quickest way I know to chop celery. Put the celery into a large bowl - might as well be the one you'll serve it in.

5. No need to peel the potatoes.  Chop them into small pieces - for fingerlings, cut them into sixths. For minis, into halves. If you hard cooked the eggs, peel and chop them, too. One avocado on top, in chunks, is pretty and delicious. (Don't put it in the mixture, add it to the top.)

6. If the walnuts need chopping, the food processor does it very quickly.  When I was little, one of my favorite jobs was chopping the walnuts, but that was before food processors - they were new in the 70's. You put the nuts in the top, turned the handle which turned the blades, and the chopped nuts dropped down.

7.  Add the potatoes and walnuts to the bowl.  Add two dollops or so of mayonnaise, to taste. *Roughly, a dollop is a generous tablespoon.  You could mix mayo and yogurt if it's for a dairy meal. You can also add some dijon mustard. Reserve a little of the dill for garnishing the top; add the balance to the other ingredients. Stir all the ingredients, add salt and pepper to taste.

This salad tastes good at room temperature.
If you have extra dill, it's great in hummus.  Dill Hummus was my favorite flavor - I never could figure out why they took it off the market.
This is recipe is kosher for Passover, too.  A good way to use any dill left over from the matzah ball soup!
For vegans, omit eggs and be sure to use vegan mayo.

Ima-Modified Dorie Greenspan's Raisin Scones

Though Dorie Greenspan sounds like someone I might have met at Herzl Camp, she is a well-known food writer.  These scones were in Parade Magazine, not a fancy venue.  They are a bit more work than muffins, but have a wonderful texture.  A real treat.  I just made them with blueberries and it worked really well.  Carnberry/walnut is awesome!  Craisins would be beautiful, too.

1 large egg
½ cup milk (skim is fine)
1 cup all-purpose flour 
1 cup whole wheat flour (this can be 1/4 oatmeal, adding a nice texture)
2 ½  T sugar
1 T baking powder
½  t salt - optional
6 Tbsp cold butter, cut into bits or grated in the big side of a box grater (hold onto the wrapper)
¾ cup raisins, blueberries or chopped cranberries.  
optional: handful of chopped nuts, your choice
optional: confectioners' sugar for icing


1 Cut the butter into bits as soon as you take it out of the refrigerator, with a fork, a knife, or a box grater.  You can use the butter wrapper to cut on.
Spray a cookie tin with oil.  You can also use the butter wrapper.
2  Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Whisk the egg and milk together in one bowl and mix the flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt in another. 
3 Drop the butter into the flour mixture and, using your fingers, cut and rub until the mixture is pebbly, squeezing the butter bits into smaller pieces. Pour in the milk and egg. Mix with a spatula until the dough is evenly moist, or just use your hands. Add the raisins or other fruits and give the very sticky dough a few more stirs/kneads.  
4 Press into a long rectangle on a cutting board. Cut into triangles. 
Or you can divide the dough into five balls. An easy way to do this is to roll the dough into a log and cut it in five slices.  On a roll-out mat, flatten each slice into a disc, and cut in quarters, making 20 mini-scones. 
Try to cover fully exposed raisins or blueberries with dough so they don't burn.
These don't spread much so they can be fairly close.  
5 Bake for 20 minutes, or until the scones are golden brown. Cool for a few minutes. 
6 Optional, ice them.  Take about 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar.  Add water by drops.  Seriously.  It needs to be very thick or it spreads all over.  You can dip the scones, when cooled, in the icing, or spread it with a knife or small spatula.

*Makes 12. Per scone: 170 calories, 26g carbs, 3g protein, 7g fat, and 35mg cholesterol.
15 scones from the batter @ 136 calories
20 scones from the batter ("four bites") @ 100 calories.