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Kale & Basil Pesto Caprese Pasta Salad

This caprese pasta salad gets a twist with kale pesto and crispy prosciutto—perfect for your next summer potluck or barbecue!

By tastykitchen · From Open Recipes · 13 ingredients
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Kale & Basil Pesto Caprese Pasta Salad

Why it works: Basil and pine match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 332 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

Kale & Basil Pesto Caprese Pasta Salad

Serves 4
Prep15 min
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

892Calories
35 gProtein
49 gFat
86 gCarbs

Counts 14 of 16 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 14 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pasta1 cup cooked (140g)220
Pine Nut1 oz (28g)191
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Parmesan Cheese1 oz (28g)110
Cherry1 cup (138g)87
Mozzarella Cheese1 oz (28g)85
Kale1 cup chopped (67g)33
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Spinach1 cup raw (30g)7
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saladnot in our table0
Wheatnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Basil + pinetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together332 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  2. Kale + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together490 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Kale + pinetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together30 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Basil + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,805 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Basil + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,294 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

Swap the nuts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (kale, basil, pine, clove, garlic, pepper, parmesan cheese):

  1. Chickpeafits better
  2. Lentilsfits better
  3. Cashew nutfits better
  4. Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against kale, basil, pine, clove, garlic, pepper, parmesan cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.