THE EMERGENCY TRAY BAKE

Here’s my usual dilemma when I’m back home from a long-ass day at work; I'm too tired to go out, I don’t like takeout dinners, but I’m too lazy to cook, and I also would like some me-time to relax after long hours at the office.

Enter the tray bake. I can’t live without my oven, and years of cooking for myself whilst a busy student/worker had turned me into a self-professed tray bake fan. The best thing about this recipe is that you can really just wing it with anything you have in the fridge, as long as you’ve got the crucial elements – sausages, any type of root vegetables, any sort of herbs, and perhaps a sliver of citrusy peel (orange, lemon, lime) to make it extra special and fancy-looking.

This is my favourite tray bake combination so far. The orange peel makes the whole dish smell amazing, and the slightly caramelised onions really compliment the roasted potatoes and carrots. Using rosemary gives it a heartier feel, and using good quality sausages really makes a difference (lower sodium levels, non-processed, high minced meat content = healthier and tastes better).

This recipe serves one with no leftovers, or great as a side to a roast.

What You Need:
2 good quality sausages (or cocktail sausages if you’re on a budget)
1 large Russet potato, peeled
1 carrot, peeled
1 red onion, peeled
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon rosemary leaves (fresh or dried)
Orange/lemon/lime peel (optional)
½ red capsicum (optional)

What You Do:

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees.
2. Cut the potato, carrot and onion into large chunks, roughly all the same size.
3. Toss in a baking tray with a pinch of salt, generous amount of coarse black pepper, rosemary, orange peel (if using) and a good glug drizzle of olive oil.
4. Roast in over for 25 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, go do some yoga or check what’s happening on E!News today.
6. After 25 minutes, take the tray out. Roughly cut the sausages into similar sized pieces as the veg, and toss them in. Roast for another 10-15 minutes.
7. Wrap up that yoga session, while enjoying the seriously amazing smell coming out from the oven.
8. Serve warm with a simple side of green salad (suggestion: dress some lettuce with some lemon juice, whole-grain mustard, salt/pepper and olive oil).

 
Note** If you use foil as a base to your baking tray, you will end up with zero washing up, except for you knife, chopping board and dinner plate. (insert huge sigh of relief)