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Thyme Salmon with Sage Pasta

"This is a family favorite! It's also a great recipe for entertaining as well."

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Why it works: Thyme and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,485 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

The recipe

6 servings
Prep20 min
Cook25 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, 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.

  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, then add the egg noodles and cook until tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. Drain and set aside.

  2. Pat the salmon pieces dry and season with salt to taste and the dried thyme. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

  3. Cook the salmon 3 to 4 minutes per side until it reaches 145°F (63°C) in the thickest part or is opaque and flakes easily. Transfer to a plate and cover loosely.

  4. Reduce heat to medium. Add the 4 cloves crushed garlic to the skillet and cook 1 minute. Add the butter, the 2 cloves crushed garlic and the chopped sage, and cook 1 to 2 minutes until fragrant.

  5. Add the drained noodles and toss to coat. Stir in the thawed peas and warm through for 2 minutes. Squeeze in the juice of one lime and season with salt to taste.

  6. Divide the noodles among plates, top with the salmon, drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and finish with the juice of the second lime.

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. Thyme + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together23,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Olive + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,641 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).

  4. Garlic + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together5,608 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Salmon + peastop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together375 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, olive, thyme, egg, butter, sage, peas):

  1. Rosemarybetter flavor fit
  2. Parsleybetter flavor fit
  3. Marjorambetter flavor fit
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, olive, thyme, egg, butter, sage, peas. 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).