Why it works: Spinach and alfalfa share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 9 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4Ingredients
Contains: milk, fish, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: fish
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Soak the 8 corn husks in a bowl of hot water for 15 minutes to soften them, then drain and pat dry.
Scrub the 30 clams and discard any that stay open when tapped. Put them in a covered pan with a splash of water and steam 3 to 5 minutes until open. Discard any that stay shut, then remove the clam meat from the shells and chop it.
Set a steamer over a pan of boiling water. Steam the sea bass, covered, until the thickest part reaches 145°F (63°C), about 8 to 10 minutes. Cool, then flake the flesh and discard the skin and bones.
Finely chop the 100g fresh amarillo chillies, the 6 amarillo chillies and the 1 amarillo chilli, discarding seeds if you prefer less heat. Thinly slice the 2 white onions, the 2 spring onions and the half small onion.
Heat the vegetable oil in a small pan over medium heat. Fry 2 minced garlic cloves with the chilli paste and half the chopped chillies for 2 minutes, then cool.
Mix the flaked sea bass, clam meat, sliced white onions, spring onions, pitted olives and remaining chilli with the 4 minced garlic cloves. Add the juice of the lime, the extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and the chopped coriander, reserving some leaves for garnish.
Toss the palm heart slices, baby spinach and alfalfa sprouts with a little olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper to make the salad.
Crumble the South American-style cheese and chop the reserved coriander leaves for garnish. Spoon the fish and clam ceviche onto the softened corn husks, scatter the cheese on top, and serve with the palm heart salad alongside.
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.
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Spinach + alfalfatop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together9 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Lime + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,491 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Garlic + spinachtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,433 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanol (resin, flower).
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Garlic + olivetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together23,449 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the lime
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, clam, corn, olive, cheese, pepper):
- Avocadoabout as good a flavor fit
- Limethe original
- Lemonabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, clam, corn, olive, cheese, pepper. 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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