Why it works: Olive and naan work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and 68 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat (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 450°F (232°C). Place the naan breads on two baking sheets. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add the ground lamb to the skillet and break it up as it cooks, about 5 minutes, until no pink remains and it reaches 160°F (71°C) in the thickest part. Drain off any excess fat.
Brush the tops of the naan with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Spread the tomato puree over each naan, leaving a small border.
Top each naan with the cooked lamb, shredded mozzarella, red onion, kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes and half of the crumbled feta.
Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the naan edges are crisp and golden.
Top the hot pizzas with the sliced cucumber and the remaining feta. 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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Olive + naantop 10% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together68 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,164 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Olive + feta cheesetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,438 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
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Tomato + cucumbertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,402 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + feta cheesetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together828 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, lamb, naan, bread, tomato, cucumber, feta cheese):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Spinachabout as good a flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against olive, lamb, naan, bread, tomato, cucumber, 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).
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