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Interior and Designer: Suzanne LaGasa
Photo Art Director: Amy Hartmann
Editor: Bridget Fitzgerald
Production Editor: Andrew Yackira
Photography 2018 Evi Abeler. Food styling by Albane Sharrard.
ISBN: Print 978-1-64152-364-6
eBook 978-1-64152-365-3
R1
To Colm, Niamh, and Frank
my favorite (and always honest) taste testers
Contents
It was early evening, and I knew my colicky infant daughter would be waking up soon. Her eyes always opened at this time to kick off two hours of nightly crying while I paced our small apartment, holding back tears of my own. My husband was working late, which meant I wouldnt have a helping hand to get dinner on the table. And I was sick of ordering takeout.
As she napped and the witching hour drew near, I browsed Pinterest, where I stumbled upon a recipe that involved roasting chicken thighs and asparagus together on a sheet pan with lemon and thyme. It was as if a light bulb had flicked on Of course. A sheet pan!
I turned on the oven, quickly assembled the ingredients, and slid the pan into the oven just in time to hear my daughters first cry from the bedroom. Twenty minutes later, cradling her in one arm, I opened the oven door to peek.
The chicken thighs were perfectly caramelized, and steam wafted from the asparagus. The entire kitchen smelled like heaven. Holding my daughter, swaying side to side, I used my free hand to slip my dinner onto a plate and put the sheet pan into the sink to wash later. This sheet pan recipe meant hot food, no extra dishes, and a healthy, complete meal that cooked while I nursed and tended to my child. I was hooked on the idea, right from the get-go.
I didnt realize it at the time, but finding that simple sheet pan recipe would change a lot for me. As I adjusted to my new life as a stay-at-home mom, working outside of the professional kitchens Id been in since the age of 16, I discovered I had a passion for helping other busy working people and moms who were as overwhelmed as I had once been. I began teaching cooking classes and sharing my techniques for simple, nutritious recipes and easy routinesfirst in a newsletter, then a blog. I called it Percolate Kitchen. And of all the techniques I teach, my favorite secret weapon is the sheet pan recipe.
Theres a real beauty in the art of sheet pan cooking. The sheet pan is a relatively inexpensive piece of kitchen equipmenta one-pan tool often overlooked in favor of slow cookers and electric pressure cookers. Unlike with a slow cooker, sheet pan meals dont have to cook for 6 hours before serving. And unlike with a pressure cooker, there are no buttons to learn about or complicated recipes.
In sheet pan cooking, ingredients are laid side by side, utilizing the qualities of heat and metal to create meals both simple and complex. Most sheet pan recipes are healthy, clean eating, and theyre often budget minded. Roasting brings out incredible flavor from even the most humble ingredients, meaning these recipes can be delicious while also being economical.
In this book, I'll cover the basics, such as techniques and tools, as well as what to look for in a sheet pan recipe, why some sheet pan styles are better than others, and how to arrange your ingredients to create complete meals with maximum flavor.
Then we'll move on to the recipes, which are clean and straightforward. These are dishes that will get you from cutting board to tabletop in no time. A quality sheet pan recipe can be fancy enough for a dinner party yet simple enough to serve as a weeknight meal for the family.
I firmly believe sheet pan recipes are an untapped resource in cooking today, and I cant wait to show you just how they can transform your busy nights. Are you ready to get started?
The sheet pan is the busy cooks secret weapon. Long ago at my bridal shower I was given a set of thick, sturdy sheet pans made by Anolon that, even now, more than 10 years later, see heavy rotation in my tiny New York City kitchen. Sheet pan cooking affords me the time and flexibility that, as a busy mom of two with my own business, I appreciate on so many levels.
