Use a Cake Pan to Make Smaller, Leafy Meals
“Leafy dishes” – the so-called dishes in which all ingredients are cooked entirely on a baking sheet – are currently in vogue. But if your family consists of only a couple of people (or, convulsively, one person), you do not need an even amount of food.
Try a baking dish that is smaller, just as easy to clean after a meal cooked in a 10-inch baking dish. (They could also have been cooked in a cast iron skillet, but – let’s be honest – the baking dish is much easier to clean.) “Why not just cook less food on the baking sheet?” – you ask. I’ll tell you why. It looks unfortunate at first, but mostly because cooking in a pot that is too large means that the juices from your pan are spreading all over the place. Also, when I have the choice between washing a small or a large pan, I will choose a small pan every time.
The options for what you can cook this way are truly endless, but if you follow a few simple strategies, you can cook just about any food in a skillet. You can choose foods that cook for the same amount of time (such as chicken thighs and young potatoes or flaky fish and tender vegetables), or you can add foods to the pan in stages (as I did with the breakfast pan below).
First, select a meat or main course and quickly search Google for how long and at what temperature it is usually cooked. Write it down. Then pick a couple of vegetables – or fruits – and you’ll think you want to pair them with your protein and find out how long they cook at that temperature. Write that down too (Food52 has compiled temperature and time ranges for common proteins and vegetables ). Once you’ve figured out what you’re cooking, it’s time to cook it. When I make a cake dish, I do three things every time:
- Grease a skillet ( usually with an oil wrap ).
- Season the protein with marinade or grate (if the protein is not eggs).
- Combine the vegetables with some oil and simply season with salt and pepper.
Put everything in a saucepan, place in the oven and let cook. As I mentioned earlier, there are endless combinations you can try and you should experiment, but I’ll share a couple of my favorite recipes.
Breakfast pastries in a frying pan
This is a stunningly simple breakfast that looks much nicer than it actually is. To make it you will need:
- 2 1/2 cups frozen, grated potato pancakes
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)
- About 1/3 of a red bell pepper, peeled and cut into strips
- 1/2 cup grated cheese such as cheddar or pepper.
- 4 pieces of prosciutto
- 2 eggs
- Chopped green onions for sprinkling
- Merchant Joe everything but bagel seasoning
Preheat oven to 400 ℉ and brush with butter. Add the potato pancakes and ghee and stir to coat. Add yeast and stir again. Sprinkle the potato pancakes with bell pepper slices and cheese on top and place in the oven until the edges begin to brown (about 20-25 minutes). Remove the skillet from the oven and, using two pieces of ham for each egg, make small nests so that the eggs can sit on the potato pancakes. Break each egg into a cup – so as not to break the yolk into a whole crispy pile of potatoes – then gently pour them into their new pig houses. Bake another 8-10 minutes, until the whites are cloudy but the yolks are still wiggling. Sprinkle with green onions and Trader Joe’s Everything except the bagel on top and serve.
Dinner with chicken and cumin
The sweet and savory chicken thighs cook great with the sweet and savory chicken thighs, without any cuts or cubes. Baby shiitake mushrooms are added to the cooking process for 10 minutes to prevent them from burning, but this is the only “tricky” part of the process. To prepare this fairly simple yet very convenient dish, you will need:
- 2 chicken thighs
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon of cumin
- 2 teaspoons of garlic powder
- A pinch or two of cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 12-15 potato fry
- 4 ounces of young shiitake mushrooms, left whole (you can also use the larger mushrooms and cut them into slices)
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 425 ℉ and grease a cake pan. Combine sugar, spices and salt and rub the chicken thighs with them. Place the thighs in a skillet, transfer the potatoes to a bowl and drizzle with olive oil just enough to coat. Toss them, season with salt and pepper, and place in a skillet around the chicken. Put this in the oven and place the baby mushrooms in the bowl you just cooked the potatoes in. Drizzle with enough olive oil to coat, season with salt and pepper and stir. After the chicken and potatoes have cooked for ten minutes, add the mushrooms and cook for 25-30 minutes, until the thickest part of the thigh reads 165 ℉ on an instant thermometer. Divide the reward between two plates and eat.
While these dishes are meant for a family of one or two, that doesn’t mean larger families can enjoy them. Just scale up the recipe by a small multiplication and cook it on a large (and trendy) baking sheet.