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Summer Pea and Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Salad

I’ve spent way too much time this summer trying to dream up a pasta salad that wasn’t boring, or predictable, or well, you know, the kind of familiar pasta salad territory you don’t need me to go over for you. Because I love a good pasta salad, I just don’t find them often. Usually, they’re missing the freshness you’d expect from something you eat in the summer, when the markets are bursting at the seams with peak-season produce. Often the dressing is a throw-away, either a too-plain vinaigrette or heaps of mayonnaise, lending itself to more of a than a salad. So I knew what I didn’t want, I just hadn’t figured out what I did.

By smittenkitchen · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
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Summer Pea and Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Salad

Why it works: Pasta and shallot share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 67 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Summer Pea and Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Salad

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

456Calories
14 gProtein
16 gFat
65 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pasta1 cup cooked (140g)220
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Pea1/2 cup (72g)62
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Shallot1 tbsp minced (10g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By smittenkitchen. 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.

  1. Pasta + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together67 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Pasta + olivetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Peas + shallottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together173 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Peas + olivetop 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).

  5. Olive + shallottop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,659 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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, pepper, olive, red wine, vinegar, shallot):

  1. Lentilsfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Chickpeafits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pasta, pepper, olive, red wine, vinegar, shallot. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.