The Sheet-Pan Meals to Make for Guests
With its low sides and its large capacity, the mighty sheet pan might just be a host's best-kept secret.
By Lynn Andriani
The French Dinner with a Twist
Chef Curtis Stone's brilliant reinvention of the quintessential French meal of quiche and a salad involves a pan instead of a pie dish. He makes mini tarts by placing shallots on a sheet pan, covering each with a round of store-bought dough and baking them. When the pastry is puffed, he removes the pan from the oven, lifts each tart with a spatula and flips it onto a plate. Along with a salad, the tartlets make a fabulous dinner that's familiar but just a little unexpected too.
Get the recipe: Caramelized Shallot Tartes Tatin
Pizza You Won't Find at Your Local Slice Shop
We hear so much about pizza stones, but a sheet pan can also turn out crisp crust—the trick is to preheat the sheet in the oven, and then dust it with cornmeal before laying the dough on top, so the finished pie lifts off easily. You can use homemade or store-bought pizza dough; they'll both taste outrageously good with this recipe. You top the pie with a few thin slices of creamy robiola cheese, shaved brussels sprouts, salty ricotta salata, toasted walnuts and a drizzle of honey for a sweet and savory supper.
Get the recipe: Robiola, Shaved Brussels Sprouts and Walnut Pizza
No-Mess, No-Stress Fajitas
This recipe for crowd-pleasing chicken fajitas has a smart trick for streamlining the cooking process. While fajitas are typically prepared one at a time on a very hot grill or griddle in two stages (first meat, then veggies) with lots of smoke and sizzle, it turns out that you can also cook multiple fajitas at the same time on one pan in the oven. It's more convenient, less messy—and the results are excellent. Serve with tortillas, avocado and sour cream (margaritas optional).
Get the recipe: Sheet-Pan Chicken Fajitas
Steak and a Side in One Tidy Container
Dealing with ingredients that require two different cooking times? You can still put them in one pan—and this steak-and-vegetables recipe shows you how. Start by par-roasting asparagus, baby carrots and cherry tomatoes coated in olive oil, garlic and thyme for seven minutes. Then, add inch-thick sirloin steaks to the pan and broil both the vegetables and the meat for about four minutes, until the steak is browned and charred. No need for a serving platter; just bring the pan to the table (guests will have to draw straws for those well done crispy bits in the corners).
Get the recipe: Sheet-Pan Steak and Veggies
The More Efficient Way to Make a Brunch Classic
Making pain perdu (bread soaked in beaten eggs, then fried) for two is a cinch: whisk eggs with cinnamon, dip two slices of bread in the mixture and cook in a frying pan until browned. Multiply that by eight, though, and you're spending considerably more time over the stove. Here's the trick: Prepare the dish as you normally would (refrigerate the egg-soaked bread for an hour or more, if you wish), and then, instead of cooking the slices over the heat, lay them on a greased sheet pan and bake for about 10 minutes, flip and continue baking. You get extra points if you lay sliced bananas on top of each piece and finish under the broiler for a minute or so.
Get the recipe: Sheet-Pan French Toast
Published 05/21/2018
