Name: Pasta with California Avocado Primavera
Ingredients: 1 ½ Pounds fresh spinach pasta; 1 Pound fresh egg pasta; 1 each red and green pepper, seeded and julienne cut; 2 cucumbers, peeled in alternate strips, quartered and thinly sliced; 8 oz carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise and cut in 1/8-inch diagonal slices; 1 each zucchini and yellow crocknecked squash, quartered and thinly sliced; ½ Cup ripe olives, diced; 2 small red onions, minced; ½ Cup minced parsley; ¼ Cup chopped fresh basil leaves; ¾ Cup grated Parmesan cheese,; 4 California Avocados, seeded, peeled and diced; Vinaigrette (recipe follows); Vinaigrette; 1 ½ Cups oil; ½ Cup red wine vinegar; 2 tsp dry mustard; 1 tsp salt; 2 tsp black pepper; ½ Cup grated Parmesan cheese

Why it works: Spinach and pasta match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 376 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

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.

Spinach + pastatop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together376 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Pasta + cucumbertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together298 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Spinach + cucumbertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together355 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Pasta + olivetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,227 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Spinach + carrottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together870 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Fresh spinach pasta: Provides the main body of the salad and carries the dressing.
Fresh egg pasta: Adds chewy structure and a tender bite to the salad.
California avocados: Add creamy richness and fat that softens the salad's texture.
Parmesan cheese: Adds savory, salty flavour and umami to the dressing and pasta.
Oil: Carries flavour and gives the vinaigrette its smooth, rich body.
Red wine vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the oil.

The step that matters

Just before serving, toss with avocado.. Avocado flesh browns quickly once cut and exposed to air, and it turns soft when tossed too early. Adding it last keeps the diced pieces fresh in colour and texture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spinach, pasta, egg, pepper, cucumber, carrot, olive):

Lettucefits better
Eggplantfits better
Chivefits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against spinach, pasta, egg, pepper, cucumber, carrot, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Avocado	1 medium (150g)	240
Pasta	1 cup cooked (140g)	220
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Red Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Pumpkin	not in our table	0

Pasta with California Avocado Primavera