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Michael Voltaggio’s Spanish-Inspired “Mac & Cheese”

Add a global twist to family favorites. In this recipe, all-American comfort food becomes a brand-new dish by using a few Spanish ingredients.

By williamssonoma · From Open Recipes · 14 ingredients
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Michael Voltaggio’s Spanish-Inspired “Mac & Cheese”

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 ↓

Michael Voltaggio’s Spanish-Inspired “Mac & Cheese”

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

668Calories
19 gProtein
37 gFat
59 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 14 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Cheese1 oz (28g) cheddar113
Goat Cheese1 oz (28g)103
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Chives1 tbsp (3g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saffronnot in our table0
Waternot in our table0
Manchegonot 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. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Rice + saffrontop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Clove + saffrontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together455 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Olive + ricetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,994 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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, onion, garlic, rice, saffron, sherry, cream):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, onion, garlic, rice, saffron, sherry, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.