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Meatball & Mozzarella Bake

All-in-one traybake suppers couldn't be easier - throw this Italian-style beef, tomato and focaccia dish together in no time

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Rosemary and basil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 352 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Prep5 min
Cook35 min

Ingredients

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

Also mentioned in the method: bread

Directions

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Tip both cans of cherry tomatoes with their juice into a 9x13-inch (23x33 cm) baking dish and spread them evenly.

  2. Nestle the raw beef meatballs into the tomatoes, spacing them out. Bake for 20 minutes, until the meatballs reach 160°F (71°C) in the thickest part and the tomatoes are bubbling.

  3. Scatter the focaccia chunks around the meatballs, pressing them into the sauce so they soak up some juices. Dot the torn mozzarella over the top.

  4. Return the dish to the oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and golden and the bread is crisp at the edges.

  5. Scatter the basil or oregano leaves over the top and serve hot straight from the dish.

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. Rosemary + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together352 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cherry tomato + basiltop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together11 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Beef + rosemarytop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together424 recipes

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

  4. Beef + basiltop 11% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together915 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Beef + cherry tomatotop 18% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together4 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the cherry tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, rosemary, basil):

  1. Lemonbetter flavor fit
  2. Orangebetter flavor fit
  3. Limebetter flavor fit
  4. Cherry tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, rosemary, basil. 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).