Saturday, February 27, 2021

So Many Sheet Pan Recipes

 It's time to think about easy meals now that we're heading towards long and busier days. These are an easy assembly and cook in the oven. They require minimum fuss. Even better is that you can make them for any meal breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Where can you get these recipes? The Sunday New York Times  has a special section this Sunday This is a great keeper because it has twenty  recipes  of all sorts along with the history of the sheet pan dinner. We have Martha Stewart to thank for them. It started twenty years ago when she was regularly using them on her show. Viewers noticed. A sheet pan meal is easy to throw together.It's a cousin of those classic one pot meals where veggies, starch and protein are mixed together to form a tasty and substantial meal.Social media glorified this humble kitchen must have.Its' non reflective aluminum surface proves to be a good backdrop for caramelized carrots, burnished  or a roast chicken. As far as the sheets themselves, you can use a whole or a half. It doesn't matter. Sheet pans are also inexpensive. A good one is less than twenty dollars so it pays to have two or three. As for the recipes you can use these or be inspired and create your own. These are really good ones. Pati Jinich , the celebrity chef and star of the PBS series, Pati's Mexican Table offers the mouthwatering recipe for bricklayer nachos, a yummy blend of roasted tomatoes cooked with bacon, beef sirloin and chorizo.There is also homemade pizza , the first sheet pan meal made wholesome with the addition of arugula and asparagus.

Of course there is the original sheet pan recipe. This is a marriage of chicken, broccoli rabe and sweet potatoes, the chicken crunchy and juicy while the sweet potatoes are deliciously tender. The broccoli rabe becomes crispy and zingy thanks to being tossed with olive oil and hot pepper flakes.The  chicken gets its' flavor from being rubbed with mustard butter. However you can vary it. Try the chicken with squash and dates, Crispy chickpeas give it more protein and flavor You can even skip the chicken for a flavorful meal. Sheet pan meals aren't just limited to chicken. Try a shrimp boil that has seasoned shrimp, broiled corn and roasted potatoes. Another recipe involves cumin roasted pork chop with Brussels sprouts.It's a mix of sweet , thanks tot he brown sugar and spicy , due to the red pepper flakes and cumin. There are also tofu sheet pan dinners that are tempting tries. The tofu and green beans with chili crisp look like a great dinner to liven up a week night and there's also crisp tofu with sweet potatoes. This is a Melissa Clark recipe and she coats the tofu in cornstarch before roasting for a crispy bite.There are also breakfast recipes., One is a simple bacon and eggs one , perfect for larger families. The other one is buttermilk pancakes, made even more delicious with the addition of mini chocolate chips. The recipe is from chef Jerrelle Guy who makes the pancakes even more fluffier by cutting the cold butter into the flour.

Get tomorrow's Sunday's New York Times and keep the sheet pan section. These are keeper recipes that are easy to make any time of day, Try them and see what the whole fuss about sheet pan dinners are about


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