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Brussel Sprout, Fig, and Feta Ravioli {video}

A great pasta dish to use up brussel sprouts (and a video with pasta making!)

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Why it works: Fig and goat cheese share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 35 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

The recipe

3-4
Prep20 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

  • Ravioli
  • Filling
  • Butter Sauce

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Mix the flour and salt on a clean counter and make a well in the center. Add the eggs and water and work into a smooth dough, about 5 minutes. Wrap and rest at room temperature for 20 minutes.

  2. Trim the brussels sprouts and blanch them in a pot of boiling water for 2 minutes, then drain, cool, and finely chop. Snip the figs into small pieces. Crumble the feta (or gorgonzola, goat cheese, or blue cheese) and stir it together with the sprouts and figs.

  3. Roll the dough into two thin sheets, about 1/16 inch thick. Place small spoonfuls of filling about 2 inches apart on one sheet, brush the edges lightly with water, cover with the second sheet, press out air, seal, and cut into squares.

  4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the ravioli for 3 to 4 minutes until tender, then drain well.

  5. Mince the garlic and finely chop the rosemary. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, add the garlic and rosemary, and cook 1 to 2 minutes until fragrant, without browning.

  6. Add the drained ravioli to the butter sauce and toss gently for about 1 minute to coat. Serve warm.

By naturallyella. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Fig + goat cheesetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together35 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Garlic + rosemarytop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,179 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Goat cheese + buttertop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together183 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  4. Fig + rosemarytop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together39 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Wheat + figtop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together69 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wheat, flour, egg, fig, goat cheese, butter, rosemary):

  1. Thymebetter flavor fit
  2. Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
  3. Nutmegbetter flavor fit
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, flour, egg, fig, goat cheese, butter, rosemary. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).