Every once in a while I get the idea that I should be eating more miso. I enjoy miso soup, but I don’t make it often enough, so the miso ends up sitting in the fridge until I start wondering how long miso lasts in the fridge.

This time, as I was picking up cheap beer from the local Japanese grocery and gazing wistfully at the miso, I decided to start experimenting. It seemed to me that miso ought to make a good salad dressing. I added lemon juice, one of my go-to ingredients, and it was good. It was also over-powering. So I tried mixing it with my other go-to ingredient, yogurt, to mellow it a bit; this is the result.

I mainly use it on salads, preferably ones with some meat in them. Here’s an example from today:

• 1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup crimini mushrooms
• 1/4 cup chopped onions
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup roast chicken
• 1/2 cup chopped tomato
• 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper

To that, I added 3 teaspoons of miso-yogurt dressing and brought it to work. It’s very good, and the dressing itself seems to be better the second day. I’ve also used it on roast chicken sandwiches, and it’s pretty good there, too.

Even with the yogurt it’s a strong flavor, so go easy on it, but it’s a very nice change of pace.