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Butternut Squash and Kale

This is one of my absolute favorite veggie combinations, and it doesn't matter how much of it I make...it disappears before I...

By thepioneerwoman · From Open Recipes · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butternut squash and kale share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 31 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 8
Prep10 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk (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. Heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

  2. Add the cubed squash, the kosher salt, and the chili powder. Stir to coat.

  3. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 6 minutes until the squash begins to soften.

  4. Add a splash of water, cover again, and cook for 2 more minutes until the squash is tender when pierced with a fork.

  5. Add the torn kale leaves and the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter. Toss until the kale wilts, about 2 minutes.

  6. Season with black pepper to taste, add more chili powder if you like, and serve hot.

By thepioneerwoman. 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. Butternut squash + kaletop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together31 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Olive + kaletop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together609 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Olive + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,398 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).

  4. Butternut squash + olivetop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together656 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Butter + olivetop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together10,128 recipes

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

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