Samin Nosrat's 40 Essential Ingredients
a Dinner Tetris full of Good Things
Hello and thanks for playing Dinner Tetris, a series here at 40 Ingredients Forever where a reader shares the ingredients they always have on hand and I dream up three dinners using those ingredients. If you’d like your pantries Tetris-ed into dinner, head here. — Ali
There are many good things to say about Samin Nosrat. She has a laugh that fills a room and a hug that envelopes you like a comforter. With Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, she taught an entire generation of people how to cook. And then wrote us another book, this one more for the heart than the brain. It’s called Good Things and it’s out today.
To celebrate, I asked Samin what her 40 essential ingredients are. If she only got to cook with 40 ingredients forever after, until the end of time, these would be it. And then I dreamt up three dinners using just her ingredients; they’re written here as “un-recipes” because Samin famously thinks recipes ail to fully capture the nuances of cooking. And un-recipes fit the idea of this newsletter well: If the ingredients you have on hand differ from Samin’s, you can still make these dishes.
Surprises from her list: No black pepper! Her choice of vinegars! That she considers non-stick cooking spray an ingredient, and an essential one at that. Red onions and shallots (what can a red onion do that a shallot can’t?). Broccoli and cauliflower but no leafy greens? The ratio of pantry ingredients to fresh. Only one meat! No tomatoes, not even canned. No eggs?!
Samin’s forever ingredients:
Pantry: Olive oil, salt (kosher, flaky!), neutral oil, apple cider vinegar, aged Modena balsamic vinegar, Calabrian chiles, miso, tahini, chicken stock, non-stick cooking spray, vanilla extract, Dutch process cocoa, sugar, Dijon mustard, chickpeas (and the aquafaba they come in the can with!), basmati rice, pasta, anchovy paste, cardamom, flour
Proteins & dairy: Parmesan, labneh, feta, unsalted butter, bone-in chicken thighs, tuna, ricotta, milk
Fruits & vegetables: Basil, lemon, red onions, shallots, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, fennel, onion, parsley, dill, garlic
Three dinners for Samin
🌱Herbed rice bowls with chile labneh🌱
Samin’s ingredients: basmati rice, chickpeas, cauliflower, broccoli, oil, salt, pepper, labneh, Calabrian chiles, dill
Make rice or any grains.
I used basmati, but any cooked grains would work.
Roast some vegetables and chickpeas.
Coat cut vegetables and well-dried chickpeas with oil, salt, and pepper. Then roast; I think 425°F is the sweet spot for most roasted vegetables.
Try to pick vegetables that roast in the same amount of time; here, that’s cauliflower and broccoli.
Pick vegetables that roast in fewer than 30 minutes (otherwise, the chickpeas risk drying out and splitting).
Try not to crowd the pan for more browning.
Chop up some soft herbs.
You know this picture, right? Samin <3 herbs. More is more.
Finely chop mint, basil, cilantro, parsley, dill, and/or chives.
Stir most of the herbs into the grains.
Top the rice with the vegetables, then dollop with something creamy and spicy.
That could be labneh and Calabrian chile, mashed avocado and hot sauce, yogurt and harissa, burrata and chile crisp.
Add another sprinkle of the herbs and a drizzle of olive oil.
🥕Roast chicken with raw & roasted veg🥕
Samin’s ingredients: Bone-in skin-on chicken thighs, carrots, fennel, shallots, olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon, Parmesan
Chop up some vegetables that are good both raw and roasted.
Options include broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, bell peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, snap peas, asparagus, radishes, fennel, red onions, shallots, corn, green beans.
Roast chicken thighs with half the vegetables.
Depending on what vegetables you use, they might be done before the chicken. So stagger the timing. Coat the chicken with oil, S&P, and roast, then add the vegetables, coat with oil, S&P, and roast until everything is done.
At 425°F, the chicken will take 35 to 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, make a salad with the remaining vegetables.
Toss the raw vegetables with an acid (lemon juice, lime juice, vinegar), olive oil, and salt and pepper until the vegetables taste punchy and bright. Let the salad sit while the chicken cooks so the vegetables can soften and season.
You could add something yummy to the salad, anything you like in a crunchy salad, like nuts, seeds, fresh or dried fruit, cheese, etc.
Serve.
The chicken with the caramelized roasty vegetables and the salad.
🧈Bagna cauda chickpeas🧈
Samin’s ingredients: olive oil, butter, garlic, anchovy paste, chickpeas, broccoli, salt, pepper, lemon, parsley
Warm fat with umami-salty-plucky stuff.
In the style of bagna cauda, warm oil, butter, garlic, and anchovy paste over medium, just until everything was fragrant.
Other savory options for seasoning the fat include capers, olives, soy sauce, a little cured meat like bacon or pancetta, and sun-dried tomatoes.
Other “plucky” options in line with garlic include shallots, onion, scallions, red pepper flakes, and Calabrian chile.
Add some beans.
Drain and shake dry any cooked beans. I used chickpeas.
Add them to the warm fat and let them cook, stirring occasionally, until warmed through and flavorful, 5 to 10 minutes. You’re not looking to crisp the beans necessarily, more let them soften and infuse with the flavorings of the fat.
Meanwhile, steam some vegetables.
Bagna cauda is a warm anchovy-garlic dip from Piedmont that’s dipped into with raw and cooked vegetables. In that vein, steam some vegetables, like broccoli or carrots, to serve the bagna cauda beans over.
Top with acid.
You know the drill: salt (anchovies), fat (oil and butter), acid (none yet!), heat (gentle simmer). So drizzle the beans with an acid, lemon juice or a vinegar, to lift the rich flavors. You could also sprinkle the beans with some soft herbs like parsley or dill, then serve the beans with the steamed vegetables.
This is good
So fun!