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Prosciutto and Edamame Pasta with Lemon Glaze

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Why it works: Prosciutto and lemon work together. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and 148 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

The recipe

4-6 servings
Prep20 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat, soy (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

  • For the Pasta
  • For the Glaze

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the Lensi Trottole pasta according to the package directions until al dente, about 10 minutes. Before draining, set aside 1 cup of the cooking water.

  2. During the last 3 minutes of cooking, add the shelled edamame to the pasta pot. Drain the pasta and edamame together.

  3. While the pasta cooks, cut the prosciutto into thin strips. Cook them in a dry skillet over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, until crisp. Move them to a plate, leaving the rendered fat in the pan.

  4. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Melt the butter in the skillet with the prosciutto fat, then whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute.

  5. Slowly whisk in the chicken stock, then the heavy cream. Simmer for 3 minutes, stirring, until the glaze lightly coats a spoon.

  6. Stir in the lemon zest and juice from 1 lemon, taste, and add the second lemon if you want more brightness. Season with salt and pepper.

  7. Add the drained pasta and edamame to the skillet and toss to coat, adding a splash of the reserved pasta water if the sauce is too thick.

  8. Fold in the chopped cantaloupe and green onions. Top with the crisp prosciutto and serve warm.

By aspicyperspective. 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. Prosciutto + lemontop 20% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together148 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Lemon + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,039 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Butter + creamtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together41,494 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Onion + chickentop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,808 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Butter + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together122,858 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 (prosciutto, lemon, butter, flour, cream, chicken, pepper):

  1. Potatobetter flavor fit
  2. Asparagusbetter flavor fit
  3. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against prosciutto, lemon, butter, flour, cream, chicken, pepper. 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).