Name: Watermelon Radish Salad with Avocado Vinaigrette
Yield: Serves 4.
Ingredients: 1 shallot, finely diced; 1 1/2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice, plus more if needed; 1 1/2 Tbs. white wine vinegar; Salt, to taste; 1 avocado, halved lengthwise, pitted and diced; 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 2 heads romaine lettuce, dark outer leaves cut into 1/2-inch pieces; 1 watermelon radish, thinly sliced; 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Watermelon Radish Salad with Avocado Vinaigrette

Creamy white on the outside, the large watermelon radish has a colorful rose color inside and mild, crisp flesh. Here, the radish is thinly sliced, then tossed with romaine lettuce, cilantro and an avocado vinaigrette to create a refreshing salad.

By williamssonoma · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients

Why it works: Avocado and radish share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 20 recipes mention both. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4.

Ingredients

1 shallot, finely diced
1 1/2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice, plus more if needed
1 1/2 Tbs. white wine vinegar
Salt, to taste
1 avocado, halved lengthwise, pitted and diced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 heads romaine lettuce, dark outer leaves cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 watermelon radish, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

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

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Avocado + radishtop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together20 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Avocado + lettucetop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together464 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Avocado + olivetop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together1,376 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Lettuce + radishtop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together58 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Vinegar + radishtop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together507 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shallot, white wine, vinegar, avocado, olive, lettuce, radish):

Limebetter flavor fit
Lemonthe original
Cherryabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against shallot, white wine, vinegar, avocado, olive, lettuce, radish. 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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