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Pumpkin Tortelli with Brown Butter and Sage

Aromatic, velvety gray-green sage is a perennial that grows in profusion all over Italy. In Roman times, it was prized for both its medicinal properties and as a flavoring. Today, its chief use is culinary, including in such traditional recipes as chicken livers sautéed in butter and veal saltimbocca. Here, it infuses melted butter, to create a common northern Italian preparation for saucing stuffed pastas, in this case

By williamssonoma · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
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Pumpkin Tortelli with Brown Butter and Sage

Why it works: Flour and pasta match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 659 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Pumpkin Tortelli with Brown Butter and Sage

Serves 6.

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1037Calories
35 gProtein
30 gFat
155 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 12 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Pasta1 cup cooked (140g)220
Cheese1 oz (28g) cheddar113
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Sage1 tsp ground (0.7g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Pienot in our table0
Pumpkinnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By williamssonoma. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Flour + pastatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together659 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Nutmeg + pastatop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together119 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, cheese, pepper, flour, pasta, butter):

  1. Capersfits about as well
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Cinnamonfits about as well
  4. Parsleyfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, cheese, pepper, flour, pasta, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.