Sheet Pan Korean Barbecued Vegetables

 SHEET PAN KOREAN BARBECUED VEGETABLES

adapted from "Vegetarian Korean BBQ" in Jaden Hair, 

Steamy Kitchen's Healthy Asian Favorites

serves 5

The original recipe called for cutting vegetables in slabs and grilling them. I did it once this way, but I found the grilling to be too much work, so I've adapted it as a sheet pan recipe.  No charred edges this way, but still delicious. It makes a satisfying meal in itself, but you could also sauté up some chicken sausage or fry some eggs for a protein accompaniment.

Marinade

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

2 T. olive oil

2 T. brown sugar (or maple syrup or honey)

1 t. toasted sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, finely minced (from jar is fine)

freshly ground black pepper

1 t. sesame seeds (original recipe called for toasted, but I put them in untoasted)

Vegetables (cut into largish bite-size pieces)

1 globe eggplant or 2 Asian eggplants, sliced 1/2" thick and then each slice quartered (or in 6ths, for larger slices)

3 portobello mushrooms, cut in half across and then sliced 1/2" thick

2 small zucchini, sliced 1/2" thick (or one large, cut in half lengthwise and then sliced 1/2")

2 red bell peppers, seeded and cut into pieces about 1.5" square 

2 leeks, sliced in half lengthwise and then cut into 2" chunks

accompaniments

brown rice

mashed avocado or guacamole (optional)

kimchi (optional)

Prepare the vegetables and put them in a large bowl. Pour marinade over the vegetables and mix up well. Add a little more olive oil if you think it needs it. (I did the olive oil entirely by eye—it wasn't included in the original recipe—so this measurement is a guess.) Marinate for an hour or up to 8 hours in the refrigerator. (I only had time to marinate for about 20 minutes--just left it out on the counter--and it was still great.)

When getting close to cooking time, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare two sheet pans: spray pan with oil, and then line with aluminum foil and spray that also.

Spread out the vegetables on the two sheet pans and cook for about 25 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Serve with rice and either avocado or kimchi—or both.

Poached Chicken Provencal

I wrote "Great!" next to this recipe some time ago, and then hadn't made it since.  Maybe I was put off by the extra step of having to make tapenade as well, even though it's easy. But on a recent grocery shop trip at Aldi, I noticed a small jar of tapenade and bought it on impulse. So when I paged through this cookbook on the weekend, looking for a recipe, this one got even simpler.

What you can't necessarily tell from the recipe is that the tapenade, tomatoes, lemon juice and oil, along with a bit of broth, make into a lovely sauce that develops as you eat the the mixture. Tonight I added the note to consider having a crusty bread on hand, for soaking up the sauce.

POACHED CHICKEN PROVENCAL

adapted from Liz Vaccariello, The Flat Belly Diet Cookbook

4 servings

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (4 oz each)

2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 t. dried rosemary

1 lb. small red or yellow potatoes, quartered

1 cup cherry tomatoes (or more—I used a 10-oz container)

1/4 cup tapenade (can be store-bought, or see recipe below to make yourself)

3 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 T. olive oil

1/2 t. freshly ground pepper

crusty bread to sop up the sauce (optional)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Place the chicken, broth, and rosemary in a medium skillet; add a little water if needed—broth should cove the chicken). Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 10-12 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken from the broth (broth stays in the skillet). Place chicken on an ovenproof plate, and put in the oven to keep warm through next step.

Raise the heat under the skillet to medium high. Add the potatoes and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, cover again, and cook another 2-3 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.

Spoon out the potatoes and tomatoes into a large serving bowl. (Spoon out, taking up some of the broth with the veggies, but leave most in the skillet.) Stir in the tapenade.  Combine the lemon juice and oil in a small bowl and then stir into the potatoes. Sprinkle with the pepper. Serve over the chicken.

The liquid left in the skillet is a delicious broth. David and I had a small bowl each as a chaser after the main course.

Calories: 316

TAPENADE: I happened to have a jar of tapenade on hand this evening, so I used that. (Galesburg friends—Aldi carries tapenade in a small jar.) The tapenade recipe below is from the same cookbook as the chicken recipe, and is also good. This makes about 3/4 cup. Fine to double the recipe—tapenade is also nice as a dip for raw veggies or crackers.

1 cup good olives, pitted (Kalamata, Nicoise, some green olives, etc.)

1 t. capers, drained

2 cloves garlic, cut in pieces

1 T. olive oil

1/2 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/8 t. freshly ground black pepper

Combine the olives, capers, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and process until coarsely chopped. Combine the oil and lemon juice. With the machine running, add the oil mixture through the feed tube to blend into a rough paste. Add the pepper and pulse to combine.

May be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

Beer Bread--very quick and simple!

This is nothing like the artisan bread I like to make, but it is very good in its own right, and SO EASY to make!  Just mix up a few ingredients and pop it in the oven. It doesn't look like much, and doesn't get browned on top, but it is tasty and has a nice texture, something like English muffins. I had it yesterday on the side with a bowl of soup. On the second day, this makes delicious toast, and slices also be frozen for later.  

BEER BREAD

adapted from https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/2766-beer-bread

unsalted butter or margarine, for greasing the pan

cornmeal or flour for dusting the greased pan

2 cups all-purpose flour (or you can just use 3 cups of all-purpose and cut out the rye and whole wheat flour; the Times recipe was entirely all-purpose flour)

1/2 cup rye flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3 t. baking powder

1 t. kosher salt

1 T. granulated sugar

1 12-oz can of beer,* at room temperature (If you forget to take the beer out of the fridge, that's fine, you may just need to bake the bread a little longer.)

optional: a reader suggests adding olives and rosemary. Sounds good, but I keep forgetting to try it!

*Type of beer to use: The original recipe recommended a bland beer, but I've used an IPA and like the result—you can taste the beer in the bread, but that's not a bad thing. Other Times readers also mention liking the results with a tasty beer like stout. 

1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan and dust with cornmeal or flour.

2. Put the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl and whisk together to mix.  Pour in the beer and stir just until the flour is all incorporated.  

3. Put the batter in the loaf pan, spread it out evenly in the pan, and bake for about 40-42 minutes.

4. Let cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing.

Oven-Roasted Chicken Shawarma

OVEN-ROASTED CHICKEN SHAWARMA

adapted from https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017161-oven-roasted-chicken-shawarma

6 servings

There were many good suggestions in readers' comments to this recipe as published in the NYTimes; I have adapted it incorporating several of them. The original recipe called for just 2 lbs. of chicken thighs. I had a package of 2-1/2 lbs and used it all, without changing the measurements for the marinade, which worked out fine—and this way the recipe comfortably makes six servings. Most of the preparation of this dish (both the chicken and the yogurt sauce) needs to be done well in advance, which I like as it leaves nothing to do when the guests arrive except to put it in the oven.

Marinade, chicken, onions

2-1/2 lemons, juiced (with the other half-lemon juiced for the yogurt sauce)

3 T. olive oil

7 cloves garlic, peeled, smashed, and minced

1/2 t. kosher salt

2 t. freshly ground black pepper (I use a small coffee mill to grind this much pepper)

2 t. ground cumin

2 t. paprika

1/2 t. turmeric

a pinch of ground cinnamon

red pepper flakes, to taste (I used a rounded 1/4 t.)

2-1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs

2 large red onions, peeled and cut into 8-12 slices

Yogurt sauce

3-4 cups non-fat plain yogurt (or use yogurt with some fat, if you prefer)

a dollop of mayonnaise

1 large clove of garlic, minced

assorted herbs, chopped (I had fresh basil, mint, and parsley in my garden so used all three. Za'atar was also recommended)

Side dishes

cherry tomatoes or diced garden tomatoes

1 English (or other) cucumber, 1/2" dice

pitted kalamata olives

pita bread or rice (brown or white)

PREPARE THE CHICKEN 4-12 HOURS IN ADVANCE

For the marinade for the chicken, combine in a large bowl the lemon juice, 3 T. olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, turmeric, cinnamon and red pepper flakes; whisk to combine. Add the chicken and toss well to coat. Cover and store in the refrigerator for 4-12 hours.

PREPARE THE YOGURT SAUCE

Whisk together the yogurt and mayonnaise, and then add in the garlic and herbs. Cover and refrigerate for 4-5 hours. (If pressed, and you did this at the last minute, it would also be fine.)

ROAST THE CHICKEN

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease a rimmed sheet pan with 1 T. olive oil. Add the sliced onion to the chicken and marinade and toss to combine. Remove the chicken and onion from the marinade, and place on the pan, spreading out evenly across the pan. (You can add in a little of the marinade also, but just to wet the chicken a little, not so it is sitting in liquid.)

Put the pan in the oven and roast until the chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and slice the chicken into small pieces. Serve with the onions, side dishes, and yogurt sauce.

 

Peach Upside-Down Cake

PEACH UPSIDE-DOWN CORNMEAL CAKE

adapted from Cory Schrieber and Julie Richardson, Rustic Fruit Desserts, a cookbook that I highly recommend

serves 8

The original recipe calls for baking in a 10" cast-iron skillet or in eight 5-oz ramekins. I use instead an  8" square Pyrex baking dish, and that works well.  I have always made this with peaches, but the recipe also suggests other stone fruit: apricots, nectarines, plums or cherries. The last time I made this, I forgot to put buttermilk on the shopping list, so I used some dried buttermilk powder that I keep on hand, and the cake was still lovely. Leftover cake is delicious for breakfast! 

FRUIT TOPPING

Enough stone fruit to fill the bottom of an 8" square baking dish (e.g., about 4-5 peaches, sliced)

1/4 cup (2 oz) unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the brown sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves and blends with the butter to form a kind of caramel. Spread the butter/sugar mix on the bottom of the baking pan and arrange the fruit on top of it, arranged in rows or circles or however you like.

CAKE

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup fine cornmeal

1-1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. baking soda

1/2 t. fine sea salt

1/2 cup (4 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 t. pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup buttermilk

Put in a medium-size bowl the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; whisk them together and set aside.

In a larger bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and sugar, beating for 3-5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk.

Spoon the batter on top of the fruit and gently spread it over the fruit layer.

Bake for about 40-45 minutes, or until the center of the cake springs back lightly when touched. Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before flipping over. It's nice to do the flip at the table, so guests can see the transformation.

Delicious served as is, but also nice with some low-fat vanilla cream as an option for a topping.

Sheet-Pan Roasted Mushrooms and Spinach

This sheet-pan recipe is for vegetables only, but it makes a full meal with an addition of a simply cooked protein. I served this with a fried egg on top one night, and the next night served the leftovers with some pan-fried Aidell's chicken sausage. Both ways were very good, but I think I liked the egg best. Other suggestions were to serve it with salmon, chicken, steak, or wrapped in an omelet, and it would also work over rice or noodles.

The original recipe did not include red pepper, but I had one on hand, so I added it, and liked the addition. Another time I added a zucchini. Amounts are flexible. Simple recipe, delicious results, and great as leftovers, too! For example, I've used the leftovers inside an omelet, also delicious.

SHEET-PAN ROASTED MUSHROOMS AND SPINACH
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021960-sheet-pan-roasted-mushrooms-and-spinach
4 servings

• 1 pound mushrooms (either regular or baby portabellas), trimmed and sliced about 1/4" thick
• 3 small shallots, peeled and sliced vertically
• 1 red pepper, sliced in strips, and then halved (optional)
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 2 T. olive oil, plus more as needed
• freshly ground pepper
• 8-10 oz. baby spinach (you can substitute kale, but add it after cooking other vegetables for about 10 minutes, and then continue to cook for another 8 minutes)

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Toss together in a large bowl: the mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and 2 T. olive oil. Season with some freshly ground pepper. Put the mixture into a rimmed sheet pan, and spread out evenly.  Roast for about 15-20 minutes.

Take the sheet-pan out of the oven, and add in the spinach, drizzle with a little olive oil (maybe a tablespoon), and toss with the mushrooms. Roast until the spinach is wilted, about 5 minutes, turning once about half-way through. 

Sheet-pan Roasted Chicken with Cauliflower and Yogurt Sauce

This dish is simple enough to make for a week-day supper, but it would also make an elegant dish for guests. And how lovely that before long, we'll be able to have (vaccinated) guests to dinner! 

The original recipe did not call for any marinating time, but several commenters on the NYTimes site suggested it, and I think it makes a big difference. I removed the skin, which I think also helped the flavor penetrate the meat.  About the herbs--I think using both mint and coriander would be great, but I can't bring myself to buy a little packet of mint in the store, because in a couple of months I'll have bushels of it growing in my herb garden. The sauce was delicious with coriander only; I upped the amount a little because of omitting the mint.  

SHEET-PAN ROASTED CHICKEN WITH CAULIFLOWER AND YOGURT SAUCE
adapted from https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021945-roasted-chicken-thighs-with-cauliflower-and-herby-yogurt
serves 4

1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper flakes (or 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes)
4 tablespoons olive oil (divided 2 and 2)
salt and black pepper
chicken bone-in thighs and/or drumsticks, enough for 4 people, skin removed
1 large cauliflower (about 2 pounds), cut into 2-inch florets)
3 shallots, quartered lengthwise (about 1 heaping cup)
1-¼ cups plain non-fat yogurt (Greek yogurt also fine)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint (also delicious with cilantro only)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons lemon juice, plus more for serving
1 garlic clove, finely chopped or grated

In a large bowl, whisk together the coriander, paprika and Aleppo pepper with 2 tablespoons oil and a big pinch of salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the bowl and toss to coat in the oil and spices. Let marinate in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight. 

When getting close to cooking time, preheat the oven to 425 degrees; cover a large sheet pan with aluminum foil for easier clean-up.

Put the cauliflower, shallots, remaining 2 tablespoons oil, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper in a bowl. Toss to coat. 

Arrange the chicken in the middle of the sheet pan. Then arrange the vegetables in a single layer surrounding the chicken.

Bake until the chicken is cooked through and the cauliflower is browned, about 40 minutes. 

While the chicken bakes, prepare the yogurt sauce: Whisk the yogurt, mint, cilantro, lemon juice and grated garlic with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Cover and refrigerate until serving.

Transfer the chicken and vegetables to a platter and top with any juices left on the sheet pan and a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve with the yogurt sauce.