Name: Green Beans, Tomatoes and Pine Nuts
Ingredients: 1-1/4 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed and rinsed; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 2 large shallots (or one small onion,) peeled, halved and thinly sliced; 3 tablespoons pine nuts; 1-1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

Why it works: Olive and pine match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,062 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Green Beans, Tomatoes and Pine Nuts

Timeabout 5 minutes

Ingredients

1-1/4 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed and rinsed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large shallots (or one small onion,) peeled, halved and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons pine nuts
1-1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions

Blanch the beans

Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil.
Add the beans and cook for about 5 minutes or until crisp-tender.
Drain beans and immediately immerse in cold water to instantly stop cooking.
Drain in a colander then gently pat dry.

Toast and combine

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.
Add shallots and sauté until golden brown.
Add pine nuts and cook for about 3 minutes.
In a medium-sized serving bowl, add the beans, tomatoes, shallots and pine nuts.
Toss until combined.
Serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

494Calories

10 gProtein

34 gFat

48 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 6 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pine Nut	1 oz (28g)	191
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cherry	1 cup (138g)	87
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Green Beans	1 cup (100g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22

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.

Olive + pinetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,062 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Shallot + pinetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together37 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Shallot + cherry tomatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Olive + cherry tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together24 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Green beans + olivetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together226 recipes

Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Green beans: Provide the main body of the dish and a crisp-tender bite after brief boiling.
Olive oil: Carries heat into the skillet and carries flavor across the shallots and pine nuts.
Shallots: Sauté to golden brown, adding sweetness and savory depth.
Pine nuts: Toast in the oil, adding a nutty aroma and crunch.
Cherry tomatoes: Add juicy acidity and freshness when tossed with the warm beans.

The step that matters

Shocking the beans in cold water. Plunging the beans into cold water immediately after boiling halts residual cooking. Without this, the beans keep softening from their own heat and lose the crisp-tender texture the dish depends on.

Swap the nuts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (green beans, olive, shallot, pine, cherry tomato):

Beansfits better
Lentilsfits better
Cashew nutfits better
Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against green beans, olive, shallot, pine, cherry tomato. 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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Green Beans, Tomatoes and Pine Nuts