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Honey-mustard Steamed Green Medley

Serve up an all-in-one side dish of broccoli, green beans, peas and leeks, glazed with sweet vinaigrette

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and honey work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 919 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 8
Prep10 min

Ingredients

Directions

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

  1. In a small bowl, whisk the extra-virgin olive oil, wholegrain mustard, honey and cider vinegar until smooth and well combined. Set the dressing aside.

  2. Pour water into a pan to a depth below the steamer basket and bring it to a boil. Set the basket over the water, add the leeks and steam for 4 minutes.

  3. Add the green beans and broccoli to the basket, cover and steam for 4 more minutes.

  4. Add the peas and steam for 2 minutes more, until all the vegetables are tender-crisp.

  5. Transfer the vegetables to a serving bowl, pour the dressing over them and toss gently to coat. Serve warm.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Mustard + honeytop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together919 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  2. Mustard + broccolitop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together705 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Green beans + broccolitop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together41 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  4. Mustard + vinegartop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cider + vinegartop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together402 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

Mustard and vinegar share little aroma chemistry, yet 14,067 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Flavor stand-ins for the leek

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, mustard, honey, cider, vinegar, green beans, broccoli):

  1. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  2. Cucumberbetter flavor fit
  3. Lettucebetter flavor fit
  4. Leekthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, mustard, honey, cider, vinegar, green beans, broccoli. 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).