Name: Gennaro’s Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 400 g dried spaghetti; olive oil; 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced; 3 anchovy fillets, chopped; 2 fresh red chillies, sliced (seeds in); a small handful of black olives, destoned; 2 handfuls very ripe cherry tomatoes, halved; a small bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked; Parmesan cheese, to serve

Why it works: Olive and garlic are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 25,665 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

Gennaro’s Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca

Serves 4

Ingredients

400 g dried spaghetti
olive oil
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
3 anchovy fillets, chopped
2 fresh red chillies, sliced (seeds in)
a small handful of black olives, destoned
2 handfuls very ripe cherry tomatoes, halved
a small bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked
Parmesan cheese, to serve

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

557Calories

42 gProtein

32 gFat

29 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Anchovy	100g	210
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Cherry	1 cup (138g)	87
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Seed	not in our table	0

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

By jamieoliver. 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.

Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,063 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Garlic + basiltop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,805 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Clove + basiltop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,437 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cherry tomato + basiltop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

Swap the cherry tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, garlic, clove, anchovy, basil, parmesan cheese):

Lemonfits better
Limefits better
Avocadofits better
Cherry tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, garlic, clove, anchovy, basil, parmesan cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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