All about sheet pan cooking
I’m a sucker for the 1990s, so when 200 Best Sheet Pan Meals-arrived in the Toronto Star newsroom I couldn’t resist.
Written by Camilla V. Saulsbury and published this month, it looks like a cookbook from a couple of decades ago. “One pan, no fuss!” the cover proclaims. It also seems like a rejection of modern food fads: simple meals with easy instructions and recognizable ingredients. Everything is baked on a sheet pan, which is a fancier way of saying cookie sheet.
There are recipes for unlikely candidates like tacos, doughnuts and muffin tops.
The book: 200 Best Sheet Pan Meals covers some traditional terrain, divided into “extra-simple pantry meals;” breakfast and brunch; meatless meals; fish and seafood; chicken and turkey; pork, beef and lamb; and “sheet sweets.” There are sheet pan basics, including which pans are the best to use, and a short history of this set-it-and-forget it technique, which derives from the British “tray bakes.”
Unlike many cookbooks and recipe blogs, which seem to share a magazinestyle esthetic you might call artfully messy or faux-casual — oops, I spilled the Himalayan sea salt! — this cookbook is more text heavy with straightforward photography. Besides, sheet pan quiche and oven fish and chips aren’t that hard to imagine. The author: According to her blog, Saulsbury is a fitness instructor who has a PhD in sociology with a focus on health and American food culture. She has published numerous cookbooks, from the trendy ( The Chickpea Flour Cookbook) to the functional (750 Best Muffin Recipes). The tester: Even though I typically eat lunch at my desk and dinner over the sink, I do love to cook for other people. Recipes I’m dying to make: Crispy Baked Falafel, Butternut Squash Oven Risotto, Crispy Parmesan Cauliflower Steaks, Cinnamon Doughnut Breakfast Cookies.
Vegetable Paella
Star Tested One of Spain’s unofficial national dishes, paella is traditionally a dish of rice and seafood or meat cooked in a shallow pan over an open flame.
Saffron is essential to the flavour and colour of paella. Though the recipe called for an eighth of a teaspoon of saffron, I used a quarter teaspoon. An eighth seemed impossible to measure. The recipe also suggested pouring hot water onto the sheet pan after placing the pan in a hot oven. That just seemed dangerous.
3 cups (750 mL) boiling water
1 bay leaf
11/2 tsp (7 mL) smoked paprika
1/4 tsp (1 mL) saffron threads
1 tsp (5 mL) salt
1/4 tsp (1 mL) black pepper
Cooking spray
11/2 cups (375 mL) long-grain white rice
1 cup (250 mL) chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (425 mL) diced tomatoes
1 can (425 mL) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 cup (250 mL) frozen peas
1 cup (250 mL) roasted red peppers, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp (30 mL) olive oil
1/2 cup (125 mL) chopped fresh parsley
Lemon wedges
For paella, in a four-cup measuring cup, combine bay leaf, smoked paprika, saffron, salt and pepper. Add boiling water and stir.
Use cooking spray to lightly coat a 13- by 18-inch (33 cm by 45 cm) sheet pan with high edges. Spread raw rice, onion and garlic in a single layer. Pour water mixture over rice mixture and cover with a second sheet pan or aluminum foil. Lower onto middle rack and keep the pan level.
Bake in a 350 F (175 C) oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Remove foil and add tomatoes, artichokes, peas and red peppers. Drizzle with oil. Stir to combine. Replace foil and return to oven for 20 minutes or until rice is tender. Remove from oven. Remove bay leaf. Garnish with parsley and a squeeze of lemon. zmcknight@thestar.ca