I’m really late to this sheet pan supper thing, I’ll admit. I seem to remember first hearing about the concept a few years ago, which tracks with the results of my extensive research (read: a couple Amazon keyword searches, sorted by publication date): the epicenter of the sheet pan supper phenomenon seems to be Molly Gilbert’s Sheet Pan Suppers, published back in December 2014. It looks like it’s probably a great book! I don’t know, though, because I actually, uh, haven’t ever read it. Oops?

What can I say? I guess it just didn’t hit me at the right time. You may have noticed, if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, that I don’t really roast that much. It’s frankly ridiculous, since roasting is so easy and so good, but I like to poke at things on the stove. I can’t muck about with things in the oven, and it makes me a little antsy.

This past weekend, though, I found myself with a pile of bright, grassy asparagus after a spree at the farmers market. I knew I wanted to roast them, but dinner needed to happen too: asparagus, for all its glories, is not itself a filling meal. But also floating around the kitchen were a collection of odds and ends that all, miraculously, went together: a handful of Yukon Gold potatoes, half a small cabbage, some smoked sausage. Now that sounds like a meal. And the vague memory of reading about sheet pan suppers floated around in my head… how hard could it be?

Not hard at all, as it turns out. It took a couple tries to get the timing where I wanted it so I could get the potatoes cooked through without burning the cabbage or asparagus — we’re still eating roasted veggies and sausage, which is not hard at all, let me tell you — but even the less perfect ones were still delicious.

The whole thing comes together with a creamy yogurt-based dipping sauce (more odds and ends, with an assist from the neighbor’s oregano that’s begun to run wild under our fenceline). The cool yogurt, flecked with bits of oregano and mint, gives a light, almost beachy feel to the meal, perfect for these warming early spring nights. Jarod and I ate a whole panful between us. We divided it out on plates, but looking forward I think this could be a great meal to plunk down as-is in the middle of a table and let people dig in from the communal platter. Maybe a good use for those fondue forks gathering dust in the attic.

So, sorry sheet pan suppers: my bad for ignoring you for so long. That was, in fact, simple and easy, and I can’t wait to make more. Maybe I’ll even finally read Molly Gilbert’s book!