Why it works: Spinach and mushroom work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 778 recipes mention both. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓
The recipe
4 servingsIngredients
Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Remove and discard the mushroom stems, then set the caps gill side up on a baking sheet.
Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook for about 4 minutes until softened.
Add the chopped tomato and the baby spinach to the skillet. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring, until the spinach wilts and the tomato softens.
Stir in the cream of celery soup and simmer gently for about 1 minute until heated through.
Spoon the spinach filling evenly into the mushroom caps, mounding it slightly.
Mix the Parmesan cheese and toasted bread crumbs together in a small bowl, then sprinkle the mixture over the filled mushrooms.
Bake for about 9 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender and the topping is lightly golden. Serve warm.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Spinach + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together778 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Mushroom + parmesan cheesetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,199 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
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Tomato + parmesan cheesetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,490 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Tomato + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,718 recipes
Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Tomato + spinachtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,350 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, spinach, cream, mushroom, parmesan cheese, bread):
- Asparagusbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, spinach, cream, mushroom, parmesan cheese, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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