Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 29,030 recipes mention both. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓
The recipe
8 servingsIngredients
Contains: soy (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.
In a large bowl, whisk the olive oil, soy sauce, lemon juice and crushed garlic until combined.
Add the sliced zucchini, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, yellow squash, red onion and mushrooms to the bowl and toss to coat evenly.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, tossing once halfway through.
Preheat a grill or grill pan over medium-high heat until hot.
Lift the vegetables out of the marinade, reserving the marinade. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes per side until tender-crisp.
Add the cherry tomatoes to the grill for about 2 minutes, turning gently, until just softened and blistered.
Arrange everything on a platter and drizzle with the reserved marinade. Serve warm or chilled.
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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Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Pepper + lemontop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,039 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together23,449 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Mushroom + olivetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,057 recipes
Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Mushroom + garlictop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,685 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 cherry tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, onion, mushroom, olive, sauce, lemon, garlic):
- Limebetter flavor fit
- Avocadobetter flavor fit
- Mangobetter flavor fit
- Cherry tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, onion, mushroom, olive, sauce, lemon, garlic. 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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