Why it works: Tomato and olive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,164 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
The recipe
8 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.
Place the dehydrated sun-dried tomatoes in a heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Let soak for 10 minutes until softened, then drain well and chop finely.
Rinse and drain the black-eyed peas in a colander, then tip them into a large mixing bowl.
Add the chopped sun-dried tomatoes, chopped red onion, and chopped green bell pepper to the bowl with the peas.
In a small jar or bowl, whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, and honey until smooth and well combined.
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently to coat everything evenly.
Fold in the crumbled feta cheese just before serving so it stays intact. Chill the salad for 15 to 30 minutes before serving if time allows.
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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Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,164 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Feta cheese + olivetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,438 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
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Tomato + feta cheesetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together828 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Tomato + black-eyed peatop 4% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together100 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Tomato + peppertop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together17,913 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, black-eyed pea, onion, pepper, feta cheese, olive, vinegar):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Cucumberbetter flavor fit
- Potatoabout as good a flavor fit
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, black-eyed pea, onion, pepper, feta cheese, olive, 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).
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