Name: Dinner Tonight: Pasta Carbonara with Ricotta
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1 pound spaghetti or other pasta; 4 tablespoons olive oil; 4 slices thick-cut bacon, about 5 ounces; 4 eggs; 1/2 cup ricotta cheese at room temperature; 2 ounces Pecorino Romano cheese, grated (do not substitute Parmesan); 3/4 cup shelled fresh peas, or frozen; Black pepper to taste

Why it works: Pasta and olive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,227 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Dinner Tonight: Pasta Carbonara with Ricotta

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 pound spaghetti or other pasta
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 slices thick-cut bacon, about 5 ounces
4 eggs
1/2 cup ricotta cheese at room temperature
2 ounces Pecorino Romano cheese, grated (do not substitute Parmesan)
3/4 cup shelled fresh peas, or frozen
Black pepper to taste

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

925Calories

50 gProtein

50 gFat

64 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 9 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pasta	1 cup cooked (140g)	220
Ricotta Cheese	1/2 cup (124g) part-skim	174
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Romano Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Peas	1/2 cup (72g)	62
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6

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

By seriouseats. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

Pasta + olivetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,227 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,066 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-hex-3-en-1-ol (freshly cut grass green and herbaceous notes).
Pasta + peastop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together265 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,263 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Olive + romano cheesetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together266 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).

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

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pasta, olive, egg, ricotta cheese, romano cheese, pepper):

Beansfits better
Walnutfits better
Lentilsfits about as well
Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pasta, olive, egg, ricotta cheese, romano cheese, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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