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Spinach with Onions & Pine Nuts

Jazz up a bag of spinach with caramelised onions and the crunch of pine nuts

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 8 ingredients
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Spinach with Onions & Pine Nuts

Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Spinach with Onions & Pine Nuts

Serves 6 - 8
Prep5 min
Cook20 min

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

507Calories
6 gProtein
45 gFat
18 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pine Nut1 oz (28g)191
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Spinach1 cup raw (30g)7
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3

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.

  1. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Pine + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together71 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Olive + pinetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Swap the nuts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, onion, butter, pine, garlic, clove, nutmeg):

  1. Chickpeafits better
  2. Cashew nutfits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, onion, butter, pine, garlic, clove, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.