Why it works: Red wine and basil work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 251 recipes mention both. Both carry damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4Ingredients
Contains: milk (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.
Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Brush the cut sides with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and sprinkle with a little of the salt.
Place the squash cut side down on a baking sheet with a splash of water. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the flesh is tender when pierced with a fork.
While the squash bakes, crush 2 cloves of garlic. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook the garlic for 1 minute.
Add the cherry tomatoes to the skillet and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until they start to soften and burst. Pour in the red wine and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes until slightly reduced. Season with the remaining salt.
Turn the squash cut side up and let it cool for 5 minutes. Use a fork to scrape the flesh into long strands and place them in a bowl.
Pour the wine and tomato sauce over the squash strands and toss to coat. Stir in half the chopped basil.
Spoon the squash mixture back into the squash shells or a baking dish. Top with the mozzarella and Parmesan.
Bake for 5 to 8 minutes, until the cheese melts and turns lightly golden. Sprinkle with the remaining basil 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.
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Red wine + basiltop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together251 recipes
Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).
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Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together23,449 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Olive + basiltop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,868 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Garlic + basiltop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,805 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Cherry tomato + basiltop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together11 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the cherry tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (red wine, olive, garlic, basil):
- Lemonbetter flavor fit
- Limebetter flavor fit
- Plumbetter flavor fit
- Cherry tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against red wine, olive, garlic, basil. 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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