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Spinach Pesto Pasta

A pasta dish made with fettuccine, spinach pesto, cannellini beans, and red bell pepper.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Garlic and spinach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,435 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Spinach Pesto Pasta

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pasta

  1. Cook pasta as directed on package. Drain and place in large mixing bowl.

Make the sauce

  1. In a blender, add olive oil, garlic, spinach, basil, parmesan cheese, and chicken broth. Mix well until leaves are blended.

Combine and serve

  1. Pour sauce over pasta. Mix until pasta is well coated.

  2. Add beans and red bell pepper. Lightly toss and serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

450Calories
44 gProtein
25 gFat
12 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Parmesan Cheese1 oz (28g)110
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Spinach1 cup raw (30g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Beannot 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.

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.

  1. Garlic + spinachtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,435 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Spinach + beanstop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together365 recipes

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

  3. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Olive + basiltop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,063 recipes

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

  5. Garlic + basiltop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,805 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Fettucine
Forms the bulk of the dish and carries the sauce on its surface.
Fresh spinach
Provides the green color and body of the pesto sauce.
Fresh basil leaves
Adds the herbal aroma that defines the pesto flavor.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory, salty flavor and helps thicken the sauce as it clings to pasta.
Cannellini beans
Add creamy texture and bulk to the dish.
Olive oil
Adds fat for smooth texture and rich mouthfeel in the sauce.

The step that matters

Drain the pasta well before tossing it with the sauce. Excess water left on the pasta dilutes the pesto and makes it slide off instead of coating the noodles evenly.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, garlic, spinach, basil, chicken, parmesan cheese, beans):

  1. Oreganofits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Rosemaryfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, garlic, spinach, basil, chicken, parmesan cheese, beans. 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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