Skip to main content

Butternut Squash with Spiced Lentils & Feta

There's no need to peel the tough outer skin from the squash for this great-looking dish

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 16 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Butternut Squash with Spiced Lentils & Feta

Why it works: Butternut squash and lentils share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 24 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Butternut Squash with Spiced Lentils & Feta

Serves 6

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

695Calories
24 gProtein
45 gFat
60 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 15 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pine Nut1 oz (28g)191
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Lentil1/2 cup cooked (99g)115
Feta Cheese1 oz (28g) cheddar113
Pomegranate1/2 cup seeds (87g)72
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Mint2 tbsp fresh (3g)2
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Pumpkinnot in our table0
Seednot in our table0

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. Butternut squash + lentilstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together24 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Lentils + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together308 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Cumin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,103 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butternut squash, olive, lentils, garlic, clove, cumin, cinnamon):

  1. Kalefits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butternut squash, olive, lentils, garlic, clove, cumin, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.