Name: Grilled Green Onions with Romesco
Ingredients: 1 large plum tomato, halved crosswise and; seeded; 1 large red bell pepper, seeded, deveined and; quartered; 1 small yellow onion, quartered; 3 Tbs. olive oil; 2 garlic cloves; 1/4 cup slivered almonds; 1/2 slice white bread, crusts removed; 4 tsp. balsamic vinegar; 3/4 tsp. sweet paprika; Pinch of cayenne pepper; 1 1/4 tsp. salt, plus more, to taste; 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, plus more,; to taste; 4 bunches green onions; Olive oil as needed; Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to; taste

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Pepper + clovetop 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 almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (plum, tomato, pepper, onion, olive, garlic, clove):

Chickpeafits better
Beansfits better
Black-eyed peafits better
Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against plum, tomato, pepper, onion, olive, garlic, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
White Bread	1 slice (30g) white	79
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Plum	1 medium (66g)	30
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Almond	1 almond (1.2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Grilled Green Onions with Romesco