Name: Grilled Salmon with Orzo, Feta, and Red Wine Vinaigrette
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups orzo; 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar; 3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots; 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil; Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper; 2 ounces fresh baby spinach (about 3 cups not packed); 1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, cut in half; 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted (see Kitchen Note); 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves; 1 cup crumbled feta cheese (4 ounces); 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, for garnish; Four 5-ounce skinless salmon fillets; Olive oil, for coating the fish; Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Why it works: Garlic and spinach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,435 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. 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.

Garlic + spinachtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,435 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Shallot + spinachtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together198 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,000 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

Swap the clove

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

Thymefits better
Capersfits better
Parsleyfits better
Clovethe original

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Salmon	100g cooked	208
Pine Nut	1 oz (28g)	191
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Feta Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Chives	1 tbsp (3g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Grilled Salmon with Orzo, Feta, and Red Wine Vinaigrette