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Pasta Alla Norma

A traditional Sicilian pasta dish with penne pasta, eggplant, ricotta salata, fresh herbs and tomato sauce.

By tastykitchen · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
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Pasta Alla Norma

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Pasta Alla Norma

Serves 4
Prep20 min
Cook45 min

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

769Calories
30 gProtein
35 gFat
83 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 14 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pasta1 cup cooked (140g)220
Ricotta Cheese1/2 cup (124g) part-skim174
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Cheese1 oz (28g) cheddar113
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Eggplant1 cup cubed (82g)35
Plum1 medium (66g)30
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Toppingnot 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. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Eggplant + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together271 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Eggplant + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together801 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Tomato + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

Swap the plum

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (eggplant, olive, onion, clove, garlic, tomato, basil):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Cherryfits about as well
  4. Plumthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against eggplant, olive, onion, clove, garlic, tomato, basil. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.