Monday, January 16, 2017

One-Pan Sausage Dinner





I love one-pan dinners. I can't emphasize this enough. I love them!

The night before I cooked this, I made salmon cakes, potatoes, and spinach for dinner. My kitchen looked like a hurricane had blown through it. Pans, bowls, dishes, and food processor had to be cleaned. I could not believe the difference when I made this very easy one-pan dinner.

Here's what I love so much:

1. Everything goes in the pan, and I can do other things while it roasts.

2. Almost all vegetables are much more delicious when roasted.

3. It tastes fabulous!

4. Very little clean-up.

5. You can empty out the veggie bin and put everything in!

Okay, I admit that I sometimes find veggies in the fridge that I have overlooked. This is a fabulous way to do a sweep of the vegetable bin and eat healthy at the same time! And the flavors were wonderful.

Now it might not seem logical to mix potatoes with apples. But honestly, everything went together beautifully, and we wound up eating more veggies than we probably would have otherwise.

The trick is to cut everything the right size to roast in 30 minutes and to use a pan large enough for everything to be in a single layer. Roast at 400 degrees. I have tried 425 but that tiny bit of extra heat is too much and some items scorch. 350 takes forever. It's just not hot enough. 400 is perfect.

Note that I add garlic teeth but I leave them in the peels. Garlic burns easily. But if you break them into cloves and leave them in the peel, you can just squeeze the garlic out of the peel when they're done. Use on bread or eat with the other veggies.

Now, if you don't have these exact items in your house (or if your family isn't a fan of these things), you can easily swap them out for other items. I used Boar's Head Uncured Bacon Chicken Sausage, which was perfect. Use your favorite bratwurst or kielbasa or other fully cooked sausage.

Note that this recipe does not provide a sauce. Some one-pan dinners do, but that's not necessary. We gobbled everything up without one. Don't skip the thyme. There's not much of it, but what a difference it makes. Half way through the roasting I walked into the kitchen and could not believe how wonderful it smelled!

One other great thing. Need a vegetarian meal? Omit the sausage. And if I'm not mistaken, without the sausage, it's also vegan.

One-Pan Sausage Dinner

1 medium size yellow potato
1 large apple (I used Pacific Rose, but any crisp apple will do)
1 medium red onion
5-6 cloves of garlic (skin on)
1/3 cup fresh cranberries
3 small beets
vegetable oil (coconut, sunflower, or canola)
salt
pepper
1/8 teaspoon thyme

Preheat oven to 400.

Peel the potato and cut into 1/2 inch-ish cubes. Place in pan. Leave the peel on the apple, but cut into quarters, core, and cut into 1-inch-ish chunks. Place in the pan. Cut the onion into quarters and place in the pan.

Cut the beets into 1/2 inch cubes. (If you don't care about everything turning red you can add them to the pan. If you don't want everything to be red, then toss them in a bowl with 1/2 teaspoon of oil and set aside.)

Place the garlic and cranberries in the pan. Sprinkle everything in the pan with 2-3 tablespoons of oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme. Toss with a spoon so everything is covered with oil. Add the sausage and flip once to coat with some oil. If you kept your beets separate (like I did in the photos) make a corner for them and add to the pan. Give the pan a good shake and make sure everything is in a single layer.

Roast for 15 minutes. Remove the sausage, give everything a turn or two or three with a large spoon, replace the sausage, and give a good shake to be sure everything is in a single layer. Roast another 15 minutes (for a total of 30 minutes) and serve.


Place everything in pan and make sure it's a single layer.
If you don't want everything to be red, toss the beets separately and then add to one corner of the pan.
Turn everything half way through.




Coming February 7th!

10 comments:

  1. I love roasting vegetables. Even if I make the protein on the stove top it makes dinner easier. I also,like one pot meals like chili and soup.

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  2. Roasted vegetables are amazing. It's as if they become something new.

    Did I miss the amount of sausage you used?

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    1. I didn't specify an amount because it depends on how much you want. I used three, as you can see from the photos, but two or four would have worked equally well.

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  3. I love meals that you prepare using one pot/pan.

    Dru

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  4. Krista, it is amazing how it all works. I'm not a fan of beets, so I'm sure I'd swap those out for some kind of squash. :) But one pan does beat all! ~ Daryl

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    1. And that's the point. It's easy and yummy, and you're not locked in to anything you don't like.

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  5. This looks good and hearty AND gluten free. Plus in my department!

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    1. You're so right. It's gluten-free, too! I find we eat more veggies this way, too.

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