Name: Herb & Parmesan Risotto
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 1½l vegetable stock; 50g butter; 1 onion , finely chopped; 300g risotto rice; 1 small glass white wine; 50g Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative), half finely grated, half shaved; 2 tbsp olive oil; 2 handfuls soft herbs, including basil , chervil, chives, half chopped, half left whole; 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Why it works: Chervil and chive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 370 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Herb & Parmesan Risotto

Serves 4

Prep10 min

Cook40 min

Ingredients

1½l vegetable stock
50g butter
1 onion , finely chopped
300g risotto rice
1 small glass white wine
50g Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative), half finely grated, half shaved
2 tbsp olive oil
2 handfuls soft herbs, including basil , chervil, chives, half chopped, half left whole
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

611Calories

16 gProtein

33 gFat

57 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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Chive	1 tbsp (3g)	1
Chervil	not in our table	0

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

By bbcgoodfood. 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.

Chervil + chivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together370 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Onion + chivetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,907 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Olive + basiltop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,063 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Rice + olivetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,994 recipes

Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Basil + chivetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together389 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

Swap the basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, onion, rice, white wine, olive, chervil, chive):

Capersfits better
Tarragonfits better
Garlicfits better
Basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, rice, white wine, olive, chervil, chive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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