Name: Pasta and Bean Soup
Ingredients: 1 large dash of premium olive oil; 1 glass of dry white wine; 5 cloves of garlic , peeled and chopped; 1 onion , peeled and chopped; 4 very red tomatoes , chopped finely or one tin (235 g) chopped tomatoes; 3 large squeezes of Italian tomato purée; 2 cans (235 g ) borlotti beans; 1 handful of fresh, chopped spinach (optional); 1 sprig of rosemary about 3 inches long; 1 large handful of chopped parsley; 1 ½ litres water; 2 chicken stock cubes; 1 pinch of salt; 1 large pinch of freshly ground pepper; 1 large pinch of cayenne pepper; 5 handfuls of pasta shells or penne; 100 ml single fresh cream (optional)

Why it works: Garlic and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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.

Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Garlic + spinachtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,435 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Tomato + beanstop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,713 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beans + spinachtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together365 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

Borlotti beans: Add body and creaminess to the soup as they soften in the broth.
Pasta shells or penne: Provides starch that thickens the broth and gives the soup its bulk.
Tomato purée: Concentrates tomato flavour and adds depth and a mild sweetness to the base.
Garlic and onion: Build the aromatic base of the soup as they soften in the olive oil.
Dry white wine: Adds acidity and aroma, with some of the alcohol evaporating during reduction.

The step that matters

Stop the pasta at al dente. Pasta keeps softening in the hot liquid after cooking, so it turns mushy if left too long. Stopping it once al dente keeps its texture and stops the soup thickening too much during the long infusion.

Swap the spinach

The recipe marks spinach as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, white wine, clove, garlic, onion, tomato, beans):

Chivefits about as well
Eggplantfits about as well
Capsicumfits about as well
Spinachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, white wine, clove, garlic, onion, tomato, 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pasta	1 cup cooked (140g)	220
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Rosemary	1 tsp dried (1.2g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Bean	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

Pasta and Bean Soup