Why it works: Arugula and basil work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 103 recipes mention both. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓
The recipe
4 servingsIngredients
Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Whisk together the lime juice, grapefruit juice, rice wine vinegar, honey, sea salt and ground black pepper in a small bowl.
Slowly whisk in the olive oil until the vinaigrette is combined. Stir in the chopped cilantro, mint and basil.
Place the chopped red onion in a small bowl of cold water for 5 minutes to mellow its sharpness, then drain well and pat dry.
Put the baby arugula in a large salad bowl. Add the olives, cherry tomatoes, red onion and diced avocado.
Pour about two-thirds of the vinaigrette over the salad and toss gently so the avocado is coated without breaking apart.
Divide the salad among four plates. Top each with shaved Parmesan and spoon over the remaining vinaigrette before serving.
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.
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Arugula + basiltop 9% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together103 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Avocado + limetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,117 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Lime + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,491 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lime + grapefruittop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together70 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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Pepper + basiltop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,292 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (avocado, lime, grapefruit, rice wine, vinegar, pepper, olive):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Lettucebetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against avocado, lime, grapefruit, rice wine, vinegar, pepper, olive. 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).
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