Low Fuss, Big Reward.

An easy one-sheet dinner for when you're burned out on cooking.

On Christmas Eve Eve I made my way through the scrum at Whole Foods and watched as many folks fumbled their way through needlessly complicated grocery lists. One couple spent precious minutes flustered in the baking aisle over the different potential almond flour offerings. It was clear: we had a lot of non-cooks rummaging through the aisles that day. Their discomfort was palpable.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but with the pressure to make something special for the dinner table, it can be the most woeful time of the year, too.

We kept it simple at our house, owing mostly to the fact that I cannot be bothered to plan too far in advance, and I’m happy to make due with what might still be lingering at the butcher’s counter. Our Christmas Eve meal was a couple juicy pork chops, seared in the cast iron, sliced and served alongside roasted carrots and parsnips, and a tangle of bitter dandelion greens. It was perfect.

This week, the liminal space between Christmas and New Year’s, can be a rough time to do any big project cooking. Most folks are worn out, beat down, and over served. So I’m here to present to you a completely painless meal that looks gorgeous but requires very little.

This simple dish comes courtesy of my pal Matt Hranek, he of Wm Brown Project fame. The man knows his way around a kitchen (and a bar, for that matter). Christmas week we took our son to New York for a few days to see a few sights (Rockefeller Tree, NY Botanical Garden) and eat a few cozy meals (Balthazar, Waverly Inn). One of the nights we went out to see our friends in Brooklyn along with Matt and his wife Yolanda. (I assume her excellent newsletter will not be new to most of my readers.) Matt was on the hook to do the cooking.