Recipe developer Ali Slagle walks us through why everyone’s kitchen should be stocked with one.
A sheet pan is probably not the most exciting tool in your kitchen . It ’s not as flashy as a newespresso machinewith all the bells and whistles , not as cunning as adonabeimprinted with leaf or flowers , and not as lauded as anInstant Potor celebrated like anair pullet . It is , however , believably one of the most useful item in your kitchen arsenal .
“ The sheet pan is a marketing terminal figure that someone who worked on the cyberspace came up with , but a sheet pan really is just optimise roasting or baking , which has been around since the first of sentence , ” pronounce Ali Slagle , recipe developer and proud home cook . Slagle ’s cookery philosophy — which call for “ downcast - campaign , high - reward ” recipes — is at the heart and soul of her debut cookbook , I Dream of Dinner ( so You Do n’t Have To ) , and naturally , sheet pans are to a great extent involved .
What are the best (and worst) things to cook in a sheet pan?
Although using a sheet pan seems relatively straightforward , Slagle does have some tip for optimize the experience . For starters , not every ingredient will cook at the same pep pill . To ensure even wangle , Slagle suggests cutting ingredient down that take longer to fake .
“ Something I always call back about is , ‘ What is non - negotiable in term of Captain James Cook time ? ’ Usually that ’s the protein , ” Slagle explain . So if a chicken thigh assume around 35 minutes to broil , Slagle make solution veg — like a gratifying potato — cut into chunks that will take a interchangeable amount of time . “ The mode you rationalize ingredients really move things . ” Some ingredient that are roasted for foresighted than intended , like a murphy , may be surprisingly delectable . Others , however , like overcookedshrimp , can ruin the repast . Timing — and sizing — are everything .
to boot , it ’s significant to consider what flavor will mesh well together in a single pan . “ The worst plane genus Pan meal that do poorly are the ace where thing do n’t really mix in well together , ” Slagle explains . Think of seasonality and innate flavor mating when throwing together your sheet pan meal . love apple and garlic are a classic combining , while squash , sweet potatoes , and carrot might make for a wonderful autumnal floor for protein .
Photo by Mark Weinberg
Lastly , ensure you ’re actually using a sheet cooking pan , and not a pan made for baking swiss roll . “ The trouble with those pan is the darkness of the metallic element lay down things ready faster , so thing glow before they ’re cook through , ” Slagle explains . “ And also they ’re not as large . So really you just postulate one sheet goat god in your life and it can just be like the restaurant kitchen provision one that you’re able to get online . ”
What else can you use a sheet pan for?
Aside from being a vas for gentle oven preparation , the mainsheet pan also has other useful procedure . Slagle , who ’s been living on the route while formula developing , always keeps a pan in her van .
“ If I ’m test a recipe , I use it to organize my ingredient — like a storage platform , ” she explains . In the same nervure , the weather sheet pan can also be used as a serving record which , for sure , it might not be as beautiful as a decorated tray , but it ’s humble and gets the job done .
to boot , Slagle uses the genus Pan as a cover . “ A muckle of skillets do n’t have a cover so you may just put a sheet goat god upside down on top and it cover up thing really well , ” she excuse .
Photo by Mark Weinberg
Lastly , tack pans do n’t have to be used solely for savory dinners . There are sheet cooking pan pancakes and other desserts that make devise food for a crowd simpler .
Why you should buy a sheet pan
“ One of my favorite thing is its aerofoil area — it actually give way you a lot of quad to cook things as opposed to a frying pan , ” Slagle says . Because of the bombastic control surface arena , vegetables can beroastedalongside potatoes and proteins , resulting in a fully flesh - out meal that only requires a undivided sheet pan and an oven . The results are luscious , effective , and require dim-witted clean and jerk - up .
“ If you amalgamate things that do taste honest together , you ’re actually building flavor without really have to do anything yourself , ” Slagle says . She likes to comprise what she describes as “ talebearing ” ingredients in her sheet cooking pan recipes — cherry tree tomatoes , sausage with milky white blubber granules , or poulet with schmaltz . “ let those ingredients run into whatever ’s around it , like a white potato or carrot , just mechanically flavors that vegetable . ”
Slagle has two sheet cooking pan recipe she ’s , in her own words , “ embarrassingly gallant ” of : aspicy sausage and crush dishand arosemary garlic roast chickenwith tog up shelf - static gnocchi . Somehow , she figured out how to poke fun a squash racquets in 45 minutes — chopping them into a accomplishable size — which then soften in the spicy render fat of the sausage . The gnocchi , similarly , is roasted in poulet fat and brighten with lemon . Thanks to the sheet genus Pan , everything can be done in one go .
Her approaching cookbook , out April 12 , 2022 , also features an exciting assortment of new dinner formula , sheet pan ones included . “ My recipe are for the great unwashed who are just seek to feed themselves , which is everyone — even if you do n’t conceive yourself a home plate Captain Cook , ” Slagle says . “ I defend the family James Cook because know how to manipulate for yourself is such a powerful matter — it gives you so much autonomy . ”
Lemon-Pepper Chicken & Potatoes Recipe
Yield : serve 4
Ingredients :
Directions :
1 . Heat the oven to 450 ° fluorine . piquantness 4 lemons into a intermediate bowl . compaction 2 teaspoonful fennel seeds underneath a chump or skillet or in a spice grinder . Grind 1 whole tablespoonful of pepper . Stir the fennel seeds and pepper into the lemon zest , along with 1 tablespoonful Olea europaea oil and 1 teaspoon saltiness . Pat 2 pounds off-white - in , skin - on chicken thighs dry , then channel to the bowl and toss to coat.2 . On a piece of paper pan , combine ½ cup succus from the lemons , ½ cup chicken stock or water , ⅓ loving cup olive crude oil , and 1 tablespoon salt . Sir Robert Peel 3 pounds large Yukon Gold murphy ( about 6 ) . snub each white potato into 8 piece by halving crosswise , then quartering each half . Toss the potatoes in the liquidness on the flat solid pan , then spread into an even bed . lend the chicken skin side up on top of the potatoes , along with any seminal fluid and oil in the bowl.3 . joint until the chicken ’s cooked through and the potatoes are golden and untoughened , 60 - 65 proceedings . time of year to taste with S&P.
- For an easier clean - up , draw the sheet pan ( including up the sides ) with foil.*Instead of or in addition to the chicken , you could warm slabs of feta or halloumi by adding in the last 15 minutes of the potatoes roasting . Or just make the potato ( aka Greek gamboge Solanum tuberosum ) .
reissue from I Dream of Dinner . Copyright © 2022 by Alexandra Slagle . Photographs right of first publication © 2022 by Mark Weinberg . publish by Clarkson Potter , an imprint of Random House .
