Sheet-pan meals are a weeknight staple for good reason — they come together quickly with little prep and even less clean-up. The only trick? Getting the timing right. The typical sheet-pan meal includes a protein and at least one or two vegetables, which may cook at different rates. This means you usually can’t just throw everything on a sheet pan, pop it in the oven and hope for the best.
For the springtime sheet-pan recipe below, I’ve paired pork chops with relatively hearty fennel wedges and quick-cooking asparagus. The cook times for this combination are easily staggered. To ensure the pork chops and fennel cook quickly, preheat the sheet pan along with the oven, and roast those two components for 15 minutes. Add the asparagus and place the dish under the broiler to finish cooking, brown the pork, and cook the asparagus. By the time the asparagus has turned tender and lightly charred, the pork will be a light rosy pink in the center and the fennel fork-tender. All it needs is a spritz of lemon, a few shavings of Parmesan, and a handful of fennel fronds.
Sheet-Pan Pork Chops with Asparagus and Fennel
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