Why it works: Capers and kale share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 11 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
4 servingsIngredients
Contains: milk, wheat, fish (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.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, about 8 to 10 minutes. Reserve a splash of the cooking water, then drain.
While the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the minced garlic, red pepper flakes, capers and anchovy pieces. Cook, mashing the anchovies into the oil, until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add the diced tomatoes with their juice and the black olives. Simmer over medium-low heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir in the chopped kale and cover the skillet. Cook until the kale wilts and turns bright green, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the drained pasta to the skillet and toss well, adding a splash of the reserved cooking water if the sauce is too thick.
Divide among four bowls and sprinkle with the grated Parmesan cheese before serving.
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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Capers + kaletop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together11 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Pasta + kaletop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together39 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Pasta + caperstop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together89 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together23,449 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the capers
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wheat, pasta, olive, onion, garlic, pepper, anchovy):
- Parsleybetter flavor fit
- Basilabout as good a flavor fit
- Oreganoabout as good a flavor fit
- Capersthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, pasta, olive, onion, garlic, pepper, anchovy. 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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