Name: Nectarine and Blue Cheese Salad with Plum Vinaigrette
Yield: Makes 8 servings
Ingredients: 2 black plums, halved, pitted, chopped; 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 4 teaspoons ume plum vinegar or red wine vinegar; Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper; 12 cups (lightly packed) mixed greens (such as arugula and frisée); 4 nectarines or peaches, halved, pitted, cut into eighths; 8 ounces firm blue cheese, such as Cabrales, sliced; 1/2 cup almonds, preferably Marcona

Why it works: Blue cheese and almond work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and 24 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, which smells cocoa, roasted. The science ↓

The recipe

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

Contains: milk, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

2 black plums, halved, pitted, chopped
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 teaspoons ume plum vinegar or red wine vinegar
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
12 cups (lightly packed) mixed greens (such as arugula and frisée)
4 nectarines or peaches, halved, pitted, cut into eighths
8 ounces firm blue cheese, such as Cabrales, sliced
1/2 cup almonds, preferably Marcona

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By epicurious. 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.

Blue cheese + almondtop 14% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together24 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
Plum + peachtop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together161 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Peach + almondtop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Olive + almondtop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together1,586 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Olive + blue cheesetop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together314 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the arugula

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (plum, olive, pepper, peach, blue cheese, almond):

Capsicumbetter flavor fit
Tomatobetter flavor fit
Potatobetter flavor fit
Arugulathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against plum, olive, pepper, peach, blue cheese, almond. 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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