Fall roasting is just our favorite. We fall back on sheetpan roasting once or twice a week — in the Summer (we call it a Broil, though it’s generally just high heat roasting now that we have a true convection): we fill the shallow pan with even size pieces of young peppers, cherry tomatoes, baby eggplant or zucchini/summer squash, maybe chunked chicken or fish, olive oil and sea salt, gathered herbs (we always have lots of marjoram in the Summer), garlic scapes, and roast until we’re happy with it (400 degrees, about 20-25 minutes). Having it with a crunchy Baguette or rice if we need to mix it up (it’s also great to then spritz with red wine vinegar or a white balsamic, chop finely and stir into cooked farro — makes a great party Summer salad, per J.O.).
In the Fall, we rely on broccoli, cauliflower, delicata squash, whole garlic cloves, and move into chunks of beef or lamb (though chickpeas/garbanzo beans are a big protein staple addition, too, to either add to the mix or replace the meat), leeks, and flavor with sage (also great over Fregola or pearl couscous). Winter gets really deep into the hard squashes, turnips, rutabagas, brussel sprouts, storage onions, with pork or beef (the pork really adds to the flavor of the roasted hard veg), with rosemary.
Yep, we love our sheetpan ‘broils’. It’s easy, and the kid can pick around her favorites (or rather, her ‘unfavorites’). We can make it more seasonally appropriate via foraging, too, with Fall-frosted Sunchokes, Burdock root, Wild Carrots, Primrose root, Apples…the Fall makes it easier to incorporate foraged goods that can withstand high heat. In the green times of the year, the herbs become the best foraging addition. Spring is not totally devoid of options though (here in Maine, Spring has been the very lean time — the ‘in-between’ time, though climate change is altering this a bit) and parsnips, ramps, hosta shoots, snap peas, and radish all make nice sheetpan (though will take a shorter roast!).
It’s likely tonite, for our Samhain celebration dinner (after my lovely Tulips return from touring generous and spooky neighborhoods), I’ll whip one of these up for us to share and play a little Scrabble (like my grandmother and I used to do all the time, in memory of her).
Until then, I will regale you with lots of food and seasonal pics. Happy Samhain!
Rock Bottom Homestead 