Sheet Pan Suppers: 120 Recipes for Simple, Surprising, Hands-Off Meals Straight from the Oven

305 Pages·2014·58.66 MB·English

by  Molly Gilbert

*
SHEET PAN SUPPERS
120 RECIPES FOR SIMPLE, SURPRISING,
HANDS-OFF MEALS STRAIGHT FROM THE OVEN
*Plus Breakfasts. Desserts. And Snacks, too!
Molly Gilbert
WORKMAN PUBLISHING • NEW YORK
Text and interior photographs (except page 89)
copyright © 2014 by Molly Gilbert
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced—mechanically,
electronically, or by any other means, including photocopying—without written
permission of the publisher.
Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-0-7611-7842-2
Design by Becky Terhune
Photographs on front cover and page 89 by Jim Franco
Front cover food stylist: Suzanne Lenzer
Author photograph (page 296) © Emily Zulauf
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WORKMAN is a registered trademark of the Workman Publishing Co., Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
First printing November 2014
For Andi and Bruce, the best parents I know,
with all my love and gratitude.
Acknowledgments
I
f you’re reading this, then it must be true: I wrote a cookbook.
My first cookbook! Hooray! But it wasn’t without help (and lots
of it). I’ve got a few people to thank for this thing.
Thank you, thank you:
To you! For reading this book. For cooking from it. For bringing
it to life.
To Alyssa (best agent), Kylie (best editor), and the Workman crew:
for taking a chance on me, and turning my drawn-out ramblings
into . . . shorter ramblings. Because of you, I’m an author.
To my Dunk & Crumble readers: for stopping by every week, and
creating a community that I feel so grateful to be a part of.
To Liz and Jen at Liddabit: for giving me my first job in food
(and as many candy scraps as I could eat), and for cheering me on
from afar.
To my army of fabulous recipe testers: Maggie, Jane, Emily
and John, Jenny and Steve, Laura and Peter, Lissie, Katie, Lauren,
Casey, Mom and Dad: Without you, this book wouldn’t work.
To Mom, Dad, Emily, Casey, and the rest of my (amazing) family:
Thanks for being my biggest supporters and best friends, always.
Because of you, I’m the luckiest.
To Ben: my favorite dinner date. I love you so much. Thanks
for the pep talks, long walks, and big hugs. Without you, life is
flavorless.
Contents

Introduction .. .......... .. ........ .. ..... .. .. ..... VII
CHAPTER 1: A Sheet Pan Primer ........... .......1
CHAPTER 2: Appetizers & Small Bites ............. .7
CHAPTER 3: Bird’s the Word .......... .. ..... .. . 41
CHAPTER 4: Fish Business ............ .. ....... . 77
CHAPTER 5: Meats, Mainly .... .. .. ....... .. .... 111
CHAPTER 6: Hold the Meat, Please ........... ..149
CHAPTER 7: Serve-Withs ........... ....... .. .. 181
CHAPTER 8: I Love Brunch ........... ....... .. 193
CHAPTER 9: Dessert (There’s Always Room) ....239
Conversion Tables .... .......... .. ..... .. .. ... .. .285
Index .......... ... ..... ........ .. ................286
About the Author ........... ....... .. ..... .. .....296

Introduction
Il ove a good one-pot meal. Really, process, easy cleanup) and interesting,
who doesn’t? Maximum ease, sophisticated flavor. Beef stew? Try rack
minimal cleanup, and boom: dinner. of lamb with herby breadcrumbs and
But beyond soup, chili, and stew, the buttered carrots. All on one pan, in the
one-pot meal quickly loses its legs. It’s oven. No mess, no fuss. Boom! Dinner.
pretty much all soupy stuff, all the time. “Sheet pan cooking” means roasting,
And do you really want to eat Dad’s baking, and broiling, three methods
“famous” beef chili again? (Sorry, Dad.) that concentrate and intensify flavor.
I want the simplicity and ease of a That’s just science talking, not me. If
one-pot meal, but I want more. I want you too tune out when science starts
the flexibility to get creative. I want an to talk, take courage—it’s actually pretty
elegant, satisfying, complete meal. And simple: The shallow sides of a sheet
most of all, I want amazing, intense pan allow your oven’s dry, even heat to
flavor. fully surround that chicken breast (or
Enter the sheet pan. Also known stuffed eggplant or shrimp or cherry
as a “half sheet” or “rimmed baking tomato) and draw out its natural sugars,
sheet,” the sheet pan is one seriously producing a crisp brown exterior and
underrated kitchen tool. Sheet pans an amazingly tender and juicy interior.
combine pure ease (easy prep, easy So you get succulent chicken, syrupy
Introduction • vii
fruit, crisp potatoes, and tomatoes Other times it’s seven o’clock and I’ve
that taste like dinnertime candy, all by just come home from work and care
tossing a few fresh things on a pan and about nothing but getting a passable
then simply shutting your oven door. meal near my face quickly, instead
Constant stirring? Nope. Chance of hot of throwing my hands up and eating
oil jumping up and viciously splattering cheese and crackers for dinner.
your wall/stovetop/new silk shirt? No, The truth is, we don’t always have
thanks. Browning meat “in batches”? time to stand over a pot of polenta for
Who’s got time for that when there are an hour to get it perfectly, authentically
guests to entertain, kids to play with, smooth. That’s okay. I’ve developed
episodes of the latest cable drama to these recipes for real people, taking
binge-watch? care to focus on fresh and simple
This book is a roadmap for getting ingredients and the occasional shortcut
impressively flavorful food on the (see: packaged polenta in a tube), in
table simply and enjoyably. Does it use the hopes of making it easy to pull
a few shortcuts, like frozen rice and mouthwatering, sophisticated full meals
packaged polenta? You bet it does. Do from your oven.
I care about taking time in the kitchen Sound like a plan? Great. Let’s get
to cook entirely, 100 percent from cooking.
scratch? Of course I do . . . sometimes.
viii • SHEET PAN SUPPERS
c
Chapter 1
A SHEET PAN PRIMER
Why a sheet pan? Good high heat, so be sure to use a half
question—one that was sheet for the recipes listed here.
never addressed in Are You There You probably own at least one
God? It’s Me, Margaret. Which sheet pan already, perhaps passed
means I had to figure it out on down from your mom and a bit
my own. But before we get into brown in the corners, or gleaming
the meat of the matter, let’s start and pristine, a gift straight off your
simpler: What is a sheet pan? wedding registry. Should you be
in need, however, rest assured
On Sheet Pans, that sheet pans are easy to come
Foil & Parchment by. All kitchen supply stores worth
A sheet pan, also known as a their salt should have them in
“rimmed baking sheet,” is a flat, stock, including places like Bed
rectangular metal pan with a 1-inch Bath & Beyond, Williams-Sonoma,
lip around the sides. It is often used and Sur la Table. If you’re looking
to bake things like cookies, sheet to buy your pans on the cheap,
cakes, scones, or dinner rolls, to check out online retailers like
name just a few. Sheet pans are Overstock. I suggest owning at least
usually made out of aluminum or two. Probably four. Once you’ve
stainless steel, and in a professional discovered their magic, you’ll find
kitchen can be as large as 26 by 18 yourself reaching for sheet pans
inches, or approximately enormous. all the time. I’ve got six (potential
For us home cooks, the more readily overkill), but then, I wrote a book on
available 18-by-13-inch variety sheet pan cooking.
(professionally called a “half sheet”) Though you can buy sheet pans
does perfectly well. Note: Jelly roll that have a nonstick coating, I
pans are the same shape as sheet prefer to use ones made from
pans, but smaller and less sturdy; regular aluminum or stainless steel,
they have a tendency to warp at since nonstick surfaces often don’t
A Sheet Pan Primer • 1