It is no great insight to say that Jewish life revolves around food. From Shabbos to Yom Tov, from Kiddush Club to melave malka, we mark our calendars by the meals we cook, share and eat. Sitting at a table filled with food is how we find the time to have a social life and how we help our kids make friends. It’s the thing we do when we don’t know what else to do.

All of that makes the meals we serve others particularly meaningful, but by the same token, equally nerve-wracking. We weigh the ballooning cost of beef against the fear that our guests will think us cheap if we serve chicken. The wastefulness of two entrees against the embarrassment of not having enough food. The desire to serve an elaborate, impressive menu with the reality of not having the kind of free time necessary to cook it. It’s a constant balancing act and it’s stressful.

This, more than anything, is why kosher food so often falls into the trap of safe, easy and familiar—of 9×13 aluminum pans, jars of Gold’s duck sauce and containers of onion soup mix. Who has the time to take risks, or for that matter, the energy to wash an extra dish when there’s another Shabbos coming next week, and the week after that, and.…

I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to choose. That you can have your cake and eat it too. (What else would you do with it?). Food can be easy and exciting. It can be one pan, but not aluminum. It can stun your guests without shocking your wallet. I’ll explore many ways to extract the most deliciousness from your dollar and make it look like you spent all day in the kitchen without having to skip this week’s Grey’s (Anatomy), but here, in my first article, we must start with my favorite time and money saver, the sheet pan.

The difference between a sheet pan and a disposable 9×13 is heat. Heat is an essential component to making food taste better. It caramelizes sugar and browns protein. It literally creates new flavors (thank you, Maillard reaction). A 9×13, while still technically metal, does not get hot.

Think about any time you’ve touched a disposable pan from the oven; it might feel hot for a half second, but then you realize you can still touch it. The reason for this is that it has low thermal mass. In other words, it’s really wide and thin. It’s all surface area. It can’t absorb heat. The only thing cooking your food is the hot air in the oven. A sheet pan, on the other hand, absorbs and retains heat. The food touching it is cooked by contact with the hot metal and the oven air.

Think of it this way. If you stick your hand in a 350 F oven, it’ll be hot, sure, but you won’t get burned. If, however, you touched the wall of the oven, well … don’t. Sheet pans also have low edges so that hot air can circulate around your food. Because of this, food cooked in a sheet pan cooks faster and more evenly. It also browns more, creating more flavor, in less time, for the same buck.

In this recipe we’re going to use the sheet pan to cook our entire meal. protein, starch, vegetable, allium (that’s anything related to an onion) all of it.

Sheet Pan Chicken With Grapes, Shallots, (Romna) Cauliflower and Potatoes

Here’s a little secret; the prettier food looks, the more effort people will think it took to make. The colors on this dish are all so beautiful—dark purples, light greens, golden browns—no one will ever know you did five minutes of prep. You’re just going to let the sheet pan work for you. The hot oven renders the fat off the chicken and that fat, along with the schmaltz and oil you add, cooks everything touching the metal, resulting in juicy, crispy skinned chicken, sugar sweet roasted grapes, creamy caramelized shallots, well browned cauliflower, and French fry-esqe potatoes rich with chicken flavor.

Ingredients

– 6-8 chicken pieces (bottoms only)

– 1 cup seedless red grapes, stems removed. (It looks prettier with the stems on but frankly it’s really annoying to pluck a hot grape full of boiling liquid off its stem.)

– 6 large shallots cut in half (if smaller leave whole).

– 1 pound of cauliflower cut into florets (preferably rainbow cauliflower for visual effect).

– Approximately 1 pound of Yukon gold mini potatoes or 3 large Yukons.

– 1 ½ tablespoon chicken fat (you can find little cups of Empire chicken fat in the freezer section).

– 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (double if you aren’t using the schmaltz).

– 1 tablespoon salt

– 1/2 tablespoon cracked pepper

– 6-8 sprigs of fresh thyme. (You can use rosemary too if you like the flavor and aroma.)

Directions

Microwave the mini potatoes for 5-6 minutes and halve them. If using the large potatoes microwave for 9 minutes. This will ensure they are tender inside. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper and then add your oil and chicken fat. Place chicken legs and thighs on sheet pan along with the grapes, shallots, cauliflower and cut potatoes. Season with salt and pepper and add the thyme. Place in 450 F and roast for 45-50 minutes.

Jeff Mosczyc, better known by his instagram handle @foodkidsandsleep, is a recipe developer and strong opinion haver. You can hear more of his recipes and thoughts on food here, on his page and really anywhere within his earshot.