Preparing Thanksgiving dinner in only two pans saves time, space
One the hardest parts about preparing a Thanksgiving meal, especially for those who can’t do much cooking beforehand, is getting everything ready on time, while each dish is still at its peak.
For small gatherings, one option is to simplify the menu and the cooking method. Focus on the stars: turkey and dressing, two or three seasonal vegetables and a dessert.
Thanks to the versatility and durability of the common sheet pan one can cook almost an entire dinner at once in the oven.
We first read about this method last year on the Tasting Table website. We’ve since seen versions of it by Food Network and on various cooking blogs.
This year we were inspired to come up with a version of our own. Because we wanted plenty of leftover turkey, and because most Arkansas grocery stores don’t carry turkey breasts smaller than 4 pounds, we opted to go with a bigger breast than the other versions we’ve seen. And because we think cornbread dressing is the only dressing worth eating, we scaled down our favorite cornbread dressing recipe. For the sides, we went with sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts and winter squash. Pop open a can of cranberry sauce (or make your homemade version if you must) and dinner is served.
There were still some timing issues to keep in mind. The turkey takes the longest to cook, so it needs to go in first. And very large sweet potatoes will also need a long time to bake, so they go on the same pan as the turkey. The dressing gets spooned on next. And the squash and sprouts get their own pan.
To round out the meal, mini pumpkin Bundt cakes are sized just right. The cakes can be baked a day or so ahead or the morning of the feast.