Samin Nosrat's Go-To Salad Dressing

New York Times

28-06-2025

I love my husband for many reasons that I won't go into here, because gross. But one of them is that he makes really good salad dressing. 'What's in this?' I ask as I happily eat forkful after forkful of healthy green leaves. Oh, a bit of this, some of that, he replies, saying something about fish sauce and a lot of vinegar (at this point, I've stopped paying attention and am really focused on the salad).
Point is, knowing how to make a perfect salad dressing is a great life skill and, in some cases, a good way to earn someone's affection. In our newest Cooking 101 episode, Samin Nosrat shows us how to make her house dressing, a sherry-shallot number from Rita Sodi and Jody Williams of the West Village trattoria Via Carota. Samin also shares recipes for her creamy lemon-miso dressing and sesame-ginger dressing. You can watch her make her dressings here:
'While none of these are hard to make,' Samin writes, 'a hand-held immersion blender makes light work of the dressings, and a sharp knife will make dicing shallots for the vinaigrette immeasurably easier. I like to make them in wide-mouthed jars, then cap and store leftovers in the fridge for up to a week.' Lovable salads, at the ready.
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Satay-style grilled chicken thighs: Don't be deterred by the total time listed for Sherry Rujikarn's recipe — almost all of that is marinating time, when your boneless, skinless thighs will be hanging out in a bath of coconut milk, fish sauce, vinegar, curry paste, brown sugar and curry powder. The prep and cook time is 30 minutes or less each, and I'm guessing it'll take similarly little time to devour this dish.
Fish Milanese: If you make extra of these golden, pan-fried white fish fillets from Kay Chun, you'll be all set for fish sandwiches or tacos or rice bowls or salads. The more you know!
Chocolate chia pudding: Is this versatile Naz Deravian recipe an easy make-ahead breakfast, a cooling dessert or a satisfying afternoon snack? Yes.
As my colleague Sam Sifton might say, it's got nothing to do with basil or boba, but I've so been enjoying the rollout of the 100 best movies of the 21st century. You can vote for your 10 best movies of the century, too, which I haven't done yet (but know that 'Perfect Days,' 'Paddington 2' and 'The Boy and the Heron' will all rank very high on my list).
Thanks for reading!