Name: Mozzarella and Roasted Red Pepper Boo-schetta
Yield: Makes about 20 toasts, or 10 servings
Ingredients: 1 (12-inch-long) loaf of Italian bread (about 2 to 3 inches in diameter), cut into 20 slices, about 1/2 inch thick; 1 to 2 large garlic cloves, halved crosswise; Salt; Freshly ground black pepper; 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 3 (1/2-pound) balls fresh, lightly salted mozzarella; 2 tablespoons prepared basil pesto (see Cooks' notes); 2 tablespoons mascarpone, softened; 7 large pitted black olives (Mediterranean-style or canned California), ends trimmed and each olive cut crosswise into thirds; 1 (7-ounce) jar roasted red bell peppers, drained, patted dry, and cut into thin strips

Why it works: Garlic and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 25,665 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Olive + basiltop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,063 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Garlic + basiltop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,805 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Pepper + basiltop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,294 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Clove + basiltop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,437 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, garlic, pepper, olive, basil):

Thymefits better
Oreganofits better
Parsleyfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, garlic, pepper, olive, basil. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Mascarpone	2 tbsp (28g)	120
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Mozzarella Cheese	1 oz (28g)	85
Red Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Mozzarella and Roasted Red Pepper Boo-schetta