House Dressing

This perfect vinaigrette recipe comes from Via Carota, the charming West Village restaurant run by Jody Williams and Rita Sodi. Since I first wrote about this recipe, it’s become indispensable not only for me but also for my entire Culinary Brain Trust, who now simply call it House Dressing. This version comes from my book, “Good Things” (Random House, 2025). The warm water in this recipe might surprise you. “We add warm water to make it more palatable,” Ms. Williams said. “Pure vinegar is just too strong — it assaults the taste buds. We want a salad dressing so savory and delicious that you can eat spoonfuls of it. We want you to be able to drink it!” Drizzle this liberally over everything: boiled asparagus, farro salad, steak, fish or roast chicken. And if you don’t have both types of mustard on hand, just use twice as much of whichever you do have.

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5 min

Prep

5 min

Cook

Servings

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salad dressing easy extra virgin olive oil honey mustard quick sherry vinegar weeknight

Ingredients

Servings1

1
large shallot, very finely diced
2tbsp
plus 1 teaspoon aged sherry vinegar, plus more as needed
1tbsp
warm water
1cup
extra-virgin olive oil
1½tsp
honey
1½tsp
Dijon mustard
1½tsp
whole-grain mustard
2
thyme sprigs, washed leaves picked and finely chopped (about ½ teaspoon)
1
garlic clove, finely grated
1tsp
kosher salt, plus more as needed
½tsp
freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1
Place the shallot in a fine-mesh sieve and quickly rinse with cold water. Allow to drain, then place in a medium bowl. Add vinegar and warm water, and let the shallot mixture sit for 2 minutes
2
Whisk in oil, honey, both mustards, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the salt and vinegar as needed.
3
Cover and refrigerate remaining dressing for up to 1 week.

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