Name: Tirana Fergese with Peppers
Ingredients: Green or Red Peppers, half- pound; Red Tomatoes, one pound; Salted Cottage Cheese or Greek Feta Cheese, half-pound; Flour, one tablespoon; Butter, one quarter-pound stick; Virgin Olive Oil, 3 tablespoons; Add Salt, Black Pepper, and Chili Pepper to your taste

Why it works: Tomato and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Tirana Fergese with Peppers

Oven350

Time15 minutes

Ingredients

Green or Red Peppers, half- pound
Red Tomatoes, one pound
Salted Cottage Cheese or Greek Feta Cheese, half-pound
Flour, one tablespoon
Butter, one quarter-pound stick
Virgin Olive Oil, 3 tablespoons
Add Salt, Black Pepper, and Chili Pepper to your taste

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

Peel the skin off the tomatoes and peppers.
Saute them in a saucepan for 5-7 minutes only in the olive oil and then set them aside to cool down for 15 minutes.
Dice them the way you like.

Make the filling

In another saucepan, melt the butter.
Add flour, cottage or feta cheese, and black pepper, salt and chili pepper to taste.
Mix all the ingredients together and place them in saucepan.

Bake and serve

Put saucepan in a preheated 350 oven for 15 minutes. Take out and serve immediately.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

929Calories

33 gProtein

41 gFat

108 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 10 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Feta Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Cottage Cheese	1/2 cup (113g) 2%	98
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

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

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cottage cheese + buttertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together376 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,263 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes: Release moisture and acidity that give the dish its juicy, tangy body.
Peppers: Add sweetness and soft texture as they cook down in the olive oil.
Cottage or feta cheese: Adds salty, creamy richness and body that softens and binds with the vegetables when heated.
Flour: Thickens the butter and juices so the mixture becomes a cohesive, spoonable filling.
Butter: Adds fat and rich flavor, carrying the seasonings through the dish.

The step that matters

Sauteing the peppers and tomatoes in olive oil. Cooking them only 5-7 minutes keeps them from releasing too much water, which would thin the filling. Browning is limited, so the vegetables soften while holding their shape and flavor.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, cottage cheese, flour, butter, olive):

Spinachfits about as well
Chivefits about as well
Tomatothe original
Capsicumfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, cottage cheese, flour, butter, 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.

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Tirana Fergese with Peppers