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Beef Sirloin Steak with Baby Spinach

"If you've never tried sirloin steak give this family-pleasing version a try. It features a creamy sauce flavored with balsamic vinegar . . . and in just 40 minutes, you've got steak, veggies and potatoes ready to serve."

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Why it works: Beef and spinach work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 490 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

The recipe

4 servings
Prep20 min
Cook20 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. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef pieces and brown 2 to 3 minutes per side, then move them to a plate.

  2. In the same skillet over medium heat, cook the sliced onion and chopped red pepper for 5 minutes until softened. Add the minced garlic and cook 1 minute more.

  3. Stir in the cream of mushroom soup, water, balsamic vinegar and rosemary, scraping up any browned bits. Bring to a gentle simmer.

  4. Return the beef and any juices to the skillet. Cover and simmer 8 minutes, until the beef reaches 145°F (63°C) in the thickest part. Let rest 3 minutes.

  5. Stir the baby spinach into the sauce and cook 1 to 2 minutes until wilted.

  6. Serve the steak and sauce spooned over hot mashed potatoes.

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. Beef + spinachtop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together490 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Garlic + spinachtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanol (resin, flower).

  4. Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together23,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Olive + rosemarytop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,489 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the rosemary

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, beef, onion, pepper, garlic, cream, vinegar):

  1. Rosemarythe original
  2. Thymeabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Celeryabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Parsleyabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, beef, onion, pepper, garlic, cream, vinegar. 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).