Carol’s Essential Gadget #3

Carol’s essential gadget #3 was not on my radar until I read a recent post on Kitchn. In that post they covered an interview with Ina Garten. Ina was asked to share her most used kitchen implement. After careful thought she decided on “sheet pans”. Eureka. I use sheet pans nearly every day, especially now that I am roasting so many vegetables. Why didn’t I think of that when initially contemplating my essential gadgets?

Most of my sheet pans are ancient. However I have recently invested in a new one, as well as discarding an ancient one. My newest sheet pan which I love is a Nordic Ware half sheet. It is bigger than my other sheet pans and I am really happy with it. After considerable research and an email about a sale, I ordered it from Walmart at a very competitive price. It has been a great addition.

We enjoy a variety of one pan wonders. In addition I roast vegetables nearly every night. I have a fantastic recipe for Sheet Pan Fajitas as well as a family favorite recipe for Roasted Sausage, Peppers, Potatoes and Onions. 

After being really honest with myself about the condition of my old sheet pans, I decided to do a complete replacement. A neighbor who is the “ultimate” baker, highly recommended these gold Nordic Ware pans from Costco. After several weeks of searching at our local Costco without success, I ordered them for delivery. They are great…2 half sheets and a quarter sheet. Out with the old, and in with the new! One of the first meals I created on the new half sheets was Martha Stewarts’s Sriracha Marinara with Meatballs. An added plus…I used my new Jenaluca scoops (Christmas gift) to make the meatballs!

Jan

You are so right, Carol, about sheet pans being essential! Between our two kitchens in this household, we share one quarter sheet pan, three half sheet pans and one Mega sheet pan with rack. In our large family this Mega size is frequently used and the cooling rack is great for its intended purpose (cooling) but also for suspending items being breaded and baked to prevent the bottom from getting soggy. I happened upon the Mega pan at Kohls when I had a good discount coupon and snapped it up not knowing how much we would like the larger size pan!

We also use these pans to roast vegetables, make Sheet Pan Fajitas, roast chicken and salmon, bake cookies AND protect the oven from dripping casseroles.

Pat

We too are sheet pan fans! Sheet pan dinners make up the majority of our weeknight meals, so these babies are in play pretty much daily. Plus around the holidays I do love baking cookies, part of a tradition my mom started many years ago (but that’s another blog). 

I almost never use a sheet pan without some sort of liner making for both non-stick cooking and easy cleanup. For dinners, it’s pretty much always aluminum foil (with maybe a spritz of non-stick spray depending on what’s going on it). For cookies, it’s parchment paper. I’ve tried using the silicone liners and I just don’t like them. Old school I guess. Plus foil and parchment wad up and go in the trash, zero cleanup in most cases.

One of the best things about sheet pan cooking is it gave me the confidence to cook fish. My mom pretty much had one fried fish recipe (which was awesome) but that doesn’t really fit into our eating plan. I started out modestly, buying pre-seasoned, pre-portioned blackened salmon from our local Sam’s Club. Delish, and oh so easy (and reasonably priced!)

These filets take about 20 minutes at 400 degrees, which lines up perfectly with roasting some fresh veggies. We’re big asparagus and brussel sprouts fans, which is funny if you know The Tinker, who would not have touched either one with a 10-foot pole not so long ago. But roasting them makes such a difference! Our go-to seasoning is simple – drizzle on some olive oil, and add in a couple teaspoons full of Montreal Steak Seasoning. Yep. Steak Seasoning. So good (mouth watering). Another great entry step for roasted vegetables are these veggie roasting seasoning packages from Urban Roasters. The come in a variety of flavors, are inexpensive and we pick them up at our local Walmart. 

Sheet pans are also multitaskers. I keep one in my oven on the lowest rack, lined with foil, as a drip tray to keep my oven clean-ish. So much easier to change the foil on a sheet pan than scrub the oven. Also, once our sheet pans get too stained, we rotate them out to the shop where they are great drip pans for under leaky old cars and tractors, and parts trays when rebuilding things. We’ve even used them for a litter box for young kittens – but probably don’t want to rotate them into the kitchen after that, just sayin’…