Why it works: Endive and feta cheese work together. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and 8 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4Ingredients
Contains: milk, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, minced garlic, minced rosemary, salt and ground pepper in a small bowl to make a dressing.
Heat a grill or grill pan over medium-high heat until hot, about 5 minutes.
Brush the cut sides of the endive halves with about half of the dressing.
Place the endive halves cut side down on the grill and cook until nicely charred, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Turn the endive over and grill until just tender, about 2 to 3 minutes more.
Arrange the grilled endive on a serving platter and drizzle with the remaining dressing.
Scatter the chopped pistachios, dried cherries and crumbled feta over the endive and serve warm.
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.
-
Endive + feta cheesetop 19% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together8 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
Olive + feta cheesetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,438 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
-
Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together23,449 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
-
Olive + rosemarytop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,489 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Rosemary + peppertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,324 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the rosemary
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, vinegar, garlic, pepper, endive, pistachio, feta cheese):
- Parsleybetter flavor fit
- Basilabout as good a flavor fit
- Thymeabout as good a flavor fit
- Rosemarythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against olive, vinegar, garlic, pepper, endive, pistachio, feta cheese. 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).
The Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.