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Lamb Fillet with Wrapped Asparagus, Spinach, Mashed Potatoes and a Madeira Sauce

This recipe is a simpler and healthier version of the dish that won Phil Vickery the Celebrity MasterChef title in 2011.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and asparagus match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 216 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 2
Prep30 min
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By bbcfood. 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. Potato + asparagustop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together216 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Rosemary + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Lamb + chickentop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together626 recipes

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

  5. Onion + potatotop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, rosemary, thyme, chicken, garlic, onion, butter):

  1. Marjorambetter flavor fit
  2. Parsleybetter flavor fit
  3. Oreganobetter flavor fit
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, rosemary, thyme, chicken, garlic, onion, butter. 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).