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Creamy Bow Tie Pasta Salad with Prosciutto, Peas, Grapes, and Dried Cranberries

"Whenever I serve this, I am hounded for the recipe. It's a great summer dish because of the tartness and fruit. It is substantial enough to be served as an entree pasta salad, but great with your favorite picnic dishes."

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Why it works: Prosciutto and peas share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 37 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

The recipe

12 servings
Prep20 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, 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.

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the farfalle and cook until al dente, about 10 to 12 minutes. Drain, rinse under cold water, and let cool completely.

  2. Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add the diced prosciutto and cook 3 to 4 minutes until lightly crisped. Drain on paper towels and let cool.

  3. Thaw the frozen peas in a bowl of cold water or at room temperature for a few minutes, then drain well.

  4. In a small bowl, whisk the mayonnaise, sour cream, and 2% milk until smooth. Stir in the garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon pepper, paprika, and red pepper flakes. Season with salt and black pepper.

  5. In a large bowl, combine the cooled pasta, peas, grapes, dried cranberries, green onions, water chestnuts, and cooled prosciutto.

  6. Add the Parmesan, oregano, and thyme to the dressing and stir well. Pour the dressing over the pasta mixture and toss until evenly coated.

  7. Taste and adjust salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour so the flavors blend before serving cold.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Prosciutto + peastop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together37 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

  2. Lemon + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,039 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Pasta + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,077 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Garlic + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together27,044 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Milk + grapetop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pasta, prosciutto, cream, milk, lemon, pepper, peas):

  1. Parsleybetter flavor fit
  2. Peppermintbetter flavor fit
  3. Celerybetter flavor fit
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pasta, prosciutto, cream, milk, lemon, pepper, peas. 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).