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Quinoa Pilaf with Artichokes, Leeks and Sugar Snap Peas

"A perfect springtime dish, this quinoa pilaf--with leeks, sugar snap peas, and artichoke hearts--is topped with pine nuts and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese."

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Why it works: Quinoa and artichoke share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 8 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

The recipe

4 servings
Prep10 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, tree nuts (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.

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the sliced leek and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes.

  2. Add the rinsed, drained quinoa and stir for 1 minute to coat it in oil and leek.

  3. Pour in the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes.

  4. Meanwhile, put the sugar snap peas or shelled peas in a small pot of boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes until bright green, then drain.

  5. Remove the quinoa from the heat and let it stand covered for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

  6. Stir in the drained chopped artichoke hearts, the blanched peas, and the toasted pine nuts.

  7. Fold in the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and the black pepper. Taste and serve warm.

By allrecipes. 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.

  1. Quinoa + artichoketop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together8 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Olive + artichoketop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together703 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Olive + chickentop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together10,796 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid hexyl ester (sweet, green).

  4. Olive + pinetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,027 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Olive + quinoatop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together457 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the nuts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, leek, chicken, quinoa, sugar, artichoke, pine):

  1. Beansbetter flavor fit
  2. Chickpeabetter flavor fit
  3. Lentilsbetter flavor fit
  4. Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, leek, chicken, quinoa, sugar, artichoke, pine. 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).