Thursday, November 18, 2021

cook: sheet pan dinner, sorta

Sheet pan dinners or tray bakes if you're in the U.K. seemed to be all the rage some months ago, and I’m always late to a trend. All I knew yesterday was that I wanted roasted broccolini for dinner, and I didn’t care what kind of protein to cook with it. I decided on salmon which would thaw quickly on the kitchen counter and on which to melt a flavored butter, left behind from a previous grilled protein. Also leftover in my fridge were fettuccini Alfredo and zucchini fritters.  
I didn't cook the salmon on the same pan as the broccolini because I wanted the broccolini super crisp, not quite burned and the salmon very tender, medium rare. And so I coated the broccolini and the salmon with olive oil and sea salt, vegetables in a sheet pan and fish in a cast iron. And leftover sides remained in their storage glass containers.
I wasn't inspired to even use fresh herbs and just sprinkled Old Bay and black pepper on all the ingredients on sheet pan and cast iron.
Maybe next time, I'll roast a seafood boil of potatoes, corn, sausage and shellfish in a sheet pan. The lovely thing about such non-fussy cooking is just turning on your appliance and letting it do its thing. Crank your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and put EVERYTHING in (I didn't want to microwave the leftovers separately) and let it all roast, pulling out dishes as need be in order to not overcook or burn.
My favorite of the whole dinner was the broccolini. Unlike Ina, I used a much hotter oven and let the vegetable get a little char on it.

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