National Post (National Edition)
Ricardo Larrivée makes meals one sheet pan at a time.
Yes, `pasta was a disaster,' but Ricardo Larrivée embraces the surprises
Awell-worn sheet pan looks just as it should. Its mottled surface evidence of hour upon hour of baking, broiling, grilling and roasting; a patina acquired by use. No matter how well you wash it, the stains remain, which only adds to its character and proves it has earned its place in your kitchen arsenal.
Falling into an underappreciated category of cooking gear, a sheet pan is like a beloved book, says chef Ricardo Larrivée. Eventually, it will bear folds, scribbles and maybe even tears — signs you've used it the way it was meant to be used. This is why, on his TV shows and between the covers of his new book, Sheet Pan Everything (Appetite by Random House, 2021), these kitchen workhorses are portrayed as they really are.
“Instead of aiming to a false perfection, it's aiming towards a beautiful reality,” says Larrivée.
When Larrivée and his team were discussing the visual style of Sheet Pan Everything, they pondered whether they should show his stained sheet pan. “And I said, `Well, this is reality. My sheet pan is not like superman, which is going to be good forever. It's just a sheet pan,'” he recalls. “Even though I care for it, it's going to be stained even if it's clean. So let's make it a fact.”
The final photo in a book filled with enticing images of meals cooked entirely on a sheet pan serves to underscore this reality. Stained and smeared with remnants of what looks like a leaf of arugula and a stray pomegranate seed, it has clearly been put through its paces.
“Beauty is not only about being aesthetic; it's about seeing the work behind,” adds Larrivée. “This is (also) how we should see people. Eventually, I am going to be wrinkled and yes, I have grey hair — it's kind of the map of your life. And we have to accept the imperfection as the perfection.”
Larrivée and his team started working on Sheet Pan Everything pre-pandemic and finalized it during the first wave of COVID-19. Finding ways to simplify cooking technique is timeless, but the added stress many people are feeling has given the book added resonance.
Sheet Pan Everything has what could be called third-wave appeal. With COVID-19 variant cases on the rise, spirits and energy levels are low. Popping a sheet pan in the oven for a meal with minimal effort and cleanup is aligned with the times.
“In 30 minutes normally, you will have a whole meal. You don't have a lot of prep to do, or you can prep a couple of things before, but then it's just throwing things on the pan and a couple of rules to remember,” says Larrivée. “It's a feel-good type of food.”
These rules include resisting the temptation to overfill your sheet pan, because then the food will steam instead of brown. And not adding too much sauce, which will result in the food boiling rather than caramelizing.
It wasn't enough for recipes to work on a sheet pan, Larrivée says; they had to sing. With the exception of accompanying starches — such as rice or couscous, which are cooked in a saucepan — the recipes that made it into the book, from snacks and sweets to weekday dinners, were enhanced by the sheet pan treatment. But not everything they tried in the test kitchen was a success.
During their recipe testing process, they had “great surprises,” says Larrivée — such as his fluffy blueberry pancakes, baked as a slab — “but pasta was a disaster.” The sheet pan was not a friend to pasta, with the exception of gnocchi carbonara. The dish comes together quickly and successfully using a handful of ingredients: frozen peas, packaged gnocchi and pancetta. “You could save the day anytime with that type of food.”
The father of three daughters — ages 23, 21 and 18 — one of the first things he and his wife, Brigitte Coutu, offered the two eldest when they moved out on their own was a sheet pan. A fundamental kitchen tool for beginners and experts alike, Larrivée especially had the former in mind when he wrote the book.
“There are a lot of new cooks, whatever their background is and their age, they start to cook. And we always think, what if it's their first book?,” he says. “What if they don't have this food baggage that sometimes your family (passes on to you)?”
Economical, fun and a sociable style of eating, Larrivée was excited about highlighting sheet pan cooking from the outset. “Everyone has a sheet pan,” he adds. “And if you don't, you can go to (the store) and for a couple of bucks you'll have one. So I thought it was cool because a lot of people's families will have economic issues and it's not going to be a time to buy fancy new electronics and equipment that you won't need all the time.”
As much as Sheet Pan Everything suits many people's needs living through a pandemic, Larrivée also had a more joyful, social future in mind while writing the book. He created a summery strawberry shortcake and a giant ice cream sandwich in the spirit of happiness and togetherness.
When he shifted to testing recipes at home, Larrivée started delivering sheet-pan suppers to his neighbours. “People were so, so happy to have something to put in the middle of the table just to feel better. And we said, `Wow, this is great. This is what it should be about.'”