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Shrimp with Asparagus and Tomatoes

A light, refreshing, healthy dish with fresh asparagus, tomatoes and juicy shrimp served with a side of brown rice.

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Why it works: Asparagus and shrimp match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 129 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-heptenal, which smells green. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Prep7 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Contains: shellfish (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.

  1. Warm the cooked brown rice in a covered pan with a splash of water over low heat for about 3 minutes, then keep it covered and warm.

  2. Pour the low-sodium chicken broth into a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the asparagus chunks and cook 3 minutes, stirring, until bright green and just tender.

  3. Add the minced garlic and red pepper flakes and stir for about 30 seconds until fragrant.

  4. Add the cherry tomatoes and cook 2 minutes, stirring gently, until the skins just begin to split.

  5. Add the shrimp in a single layer and cook 2 to 3 minutes, turning once, until opaque and the thickest part reaches 145°F (63°C).

  6. Remove the skillet from the heat, stir in the lemon juice, and spoon the shrimp and vegetables over the warm rice.

By tastykitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Asparagus + shrimptop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together129 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).

  2. Chicken + ricetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,569 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  3. Pepper + lemontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,039 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Chicken + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together10,839 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  5. Asparagus + ricetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together244 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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 (chicken, garlic, asparagus, shrimp, pepper, lemon, rice):

  1. Limebetter flavor fit
  2. Avocadobetter flavor fit
  3. Mangobetter flavor fit
  4. Cherry tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, garlic, asparagus, shrimp, pepper, lemon, rice. 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).