Why it works: Pita bread and feta cheese work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 36 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
6 servingsIngredients
Contains: milk, wheat (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.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and line two baking sheets with foil or parchment.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook for 3 minutes until they begin to soften.
Add the chopped spinach to the skillet and cook for 2 minutes, stirring, until wilted. Remove from the heat and drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil.
Place the pita breads on the baking sheets. Spread the sun-dried tomato pesto evenly over each pita.
Top each pita with chopped tomatoes, the spinach and mushroom mixture, crumbled feta, and grated Parmesan. Season lightly with black pepper.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the pita edges are crisp and the cheese is melted and lightly golden. Cut into wedges and serve warm.
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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Pita bread + feta cheesetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together36 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Feta cheese + parmesan cheesetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together94 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Mushroom + parmesan cheesetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,199 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
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Tomato + parmesan cheesetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,490 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Tomato + feta cheesetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together828 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the plum
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wheat, pita bread, tomato, spinach, mushroom, feta cheese, parmesan cheese):
- Avocadobetter flavor fit
- Cherrybetter flavor fit
- Grapebetter flavor fit
- Plumthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, pita bread, tomato, spinach, mushroom, feta cheese, parmesan cheese. 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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