Why it works: Quinoa and green beans work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and 4 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4Ingredients
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Rinse the quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer under cold water. Combine the quinoa and water in a saucepan, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 12 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a pan of boiling water to a boil, add the green beans and cook for 4 minutes until crisp-tender. Drain well.
Remove the quinoa from the heat, keep it covered for 3 minutes, then fluff it with a fork.
In a large bowl, whisk together the Dijon mustard, lemon juice, lime juice and Creole seasoning until smooth.
Add the warm quinoa and green beans to the bowl and toss well to coat. Serve warm, or refrigerate and serve chilled.
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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Quinoa + green beanstop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Lemon + limetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,289 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Green beans + mustardtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together116 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Quinoa + lemontop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together194 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Green beans + lemontop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together61 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (quinoa, green beans, lemon, lime):
- Broccolibetter flavor fit
- Spinachbetter flavor fit
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against quinoa, green beans, lemon, lime. 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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