Name: Salmon Niçoise Salad with Black Olive Vinaigrette
Yield: Makes 4 servings
Ingredients: 10 pitted Kalamata olives, finely chopped; 1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot; 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic; 1 teaspoon anchovy paste; 3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar; 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 2 tablespoons finely chopped basil; 3/4 pound small Yukon Gold or boiling potatoes; 1 (1 1/4-pound) piece salmon fillet (preferably center-cut; about 1 inch thick) with skin; 3/4 pound green beans, trimmed; 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved; 2 ounces baby arugula (4 cups); 2 hard-boiled eggs, cut into quarters; Handful of small basil leaves; 4 lemon wedges

Why it works: Olive and garlic 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.

Olive + garlictop 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).
Garlic + potatotop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,517 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,000 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, shallot, garlic, anchovy, wine, vinegar, basil):

Chivefits better
Tomatofits better
Kalefits better
Potatothe original

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Anchovy	100g	210
Salmon	100g cooked	208
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cherry	1 cup (138g)	87
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Shallot	1 tbsp minced (10g)	7
Arugula	1 cup (20g)	5
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1

Salmon Niçoise Salad with Black Olive Vinaigrette