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Asparagus Bruschetta

"For a light bite, Elaine Sweet created these pretty appetizers. I really like asparagus, so Im always trying it in different things, says the Dallas, Texas reader. 'This is a delicious twist on traditional bruschetta.'"

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Why it works: Asparagus and blue cheese share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and 11 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, which smells cocoa, roasted. The science ↓

The recipe

6 servings
Prep25 min
Cook5 min

Ingredients

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.

  1. Bring the 3 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the asparagus pieces and blanch for 2 minutes until bright green and just tender.

  2. Drain the asparagus well and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Pat dry with paper towels.

  3. In a bowl, combine the halved grape tomatoes, minced basil, chopped green onions, minced garlic, and the asparagus.

  4. In a small bowl, whisk the lime juice, grated lime peel, olive oil, salt, and pepper together. Pour over the vegetables and toss to coat.

  5. Let the topping sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes so the flavors blend.

  6. Arrange the toasted baguette slices on a serving platter.

  7. Spoon the asparagus and tomato topping onto each toast slice.

  8. Sprinkle the crumbled blue cheese over the bruschetta and serve right away.

By allrecipes. 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. Asparagus + blue cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together11 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  2. Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,164 recipes

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

  3. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Tomato + basiltop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,979 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together14,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the grape

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (asparagus, tomato, basil, onion, lime, olive, garlic):

  1. Avocadobetter flavor fit
  2. Lemonbetter flavor fit
  3. Mangobetter flavor fit
  4. Grapethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against asparagus, tomato, basil, onion, lime, olive, garlic. 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).