Flavor-packed, effort-free traybake dinners for winter warmth

The Power of the Baking Tray in Modern Cooking

A delicious dinner requiring minimal washing up is often considered the culinary equivalent of the Holy Grail. Many people assume that a tasty meal inevitably results in a pile of dirty dishes, but don’t underestimate the power of one good cooking tool when it comes to nailing big-flavour, low-effort weeknight meals or dinner party favourites.

Enter: the baking tray. There’s a good chance you already have one lurking in your kitchen, buried under various bits and bobs in the cupboard, but aren’t using it to its full power. UK chef John Gregory-Smith is here to show you what you’re missing. In his new release, The Greatest Traybake Cookbook Ever, Gregory-Smith is putting the humble tray (or sheet pan, roasting tin, baking sheet – whatever you happen to call it) in the spotlight with some mouth-watering recipes that won’t leave you slaving over the sink for too long afterwards.

Crinkle top chicken and bacon pie, Korean garlic chicken or ravioli bake, anyone? Start pre-heating the oven, because once you’ve read through the traybake recipes below, you’ll be wanting to make them ASAP.

Crinkle Top Chicken and Bacon Pie

Gregory-Smith describes this as the “ultimate example” of the magic of traybake cooking, saying it’s “simple to prepare and guaranteed to impress.” “It’s an effortless but ever-so-indulgent creamy chicken pie, with a lovely thick sauce, flavoured with smoky bacon and thyme, and the oven does all the work,” he writes. “The top is studded with filo pastry that you deliberately scrunch up by hand so it goes all spiky and crispy in the oven.”

This recipe serves six, with a prep time of 15 minutes and cook time of 45 minutes.

Ingredients:

1kg boneless skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2–3cm pieces
200g lardons or bacon
2 sprigs of thyme, leaves picked
1 tbsp olive oil
300ml double cream
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
3 tbsp plain flour
6 spring onions, finely chopped
270g pack filo pastry (7 sheets)
1 free-range egg, whisked
salt and pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan/gas 6. Chuck the chicken, lardons or bacon and thyme leaves into a 24x32cm roasting tin. Add the oil and plenty of salt and pepper. Mix well and roast for 25 minutes to get some colour on to the chicken.
Meanwhile, whisk together the double cream, Dijon mustard, garlic and plenty of salt and pepper.
Remove the chicken from the oven and scatter over the flour. Mix well to coat each piece. Add the spring onions, pour over the cream sauce and stir together.
Tear each piece of filo pastry in half and scrunch each half into a jaggedy-looking ball. Starting at one corner of the pie, place the scrunched-up filo on top of the chicken filling. Keep going with more scrunched-up pieces of pastry until the whole pie is covered in a very spiky, punk-rock topping. Gently brush with the egg and pop it back into the oven for 20 minutes or until the pastry is all golden and the filling thick and rich. Leave to rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. This pairs perfectly with buttery mash and a green salad.

Speedy Cheese Ravioli Bake

In Gregory-Smith’s own words, “This isn’t haute cuisine and it’s not trying to be. This is pure, unpretentious comfort food: simple, satisfying and ready in minutes.” He says it’s a dish that’s perfect for “chaotic Monday nights after a long day at work or when you’ve accidentally had one too many vinos on a Friday night.”

This recipe serves four, with a prep time of eight minutes and cook time of 22 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
700g tomato passata
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp dried oregano
500g fresh ravioli
160g grated mozzarella (from a bag or the firm stuff)
200ml just-boiled water
salt and pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 220ºC/200ºC fan/gas 7. Rub the olive oil all over a 24x32cm roasting tin.
Whisk together the tomato passata, tomato puree, garlic powder, dried oregano and a large pinch of salt and pepper. Spoon a few tablespoons into the roasting tin and spread out all over the bottom to stop the pasta sticking.
Layer up half the ravioli in the roasting tin. I’m a real neat freak so I like nice lines but feel free to do it your way. Spoon over half the tomato sauce and sprinkle over half the cheese. Add the remaining ravioli (in fun lines if you like!), then spoon over the remaining sauce.
Pour 200ml of just-boiled water into the roasting tin and gently push the ravioli down into the sauce so they’re just covered. Sprinkle over the remaining cheese and cover with foil. Put into the oven and cook for 10 minutes to soften the ravioli.
Remove the foil and return the ravioli to the oven to roast for 10 to 12 minutes so the cheese can melt and go all oozy. Serve immediately.

Seoulful Korean Garlic Chicken

“This is my take on dak-dori-tang, a Korean chicken and potato stew, reimagined as a quick and easy traybake,” Gregory Smith says of this dish. “It’s absolutely packed with flavour, thanks to a lip-smacking sauce made from gochujang paste, vinegar and soy sauce.”

This dish serves four people, with a prep time of 10 minutes and a cook time of one hour and 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

4 tbsp gochujang paste
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp rice wine
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp caster sugar
a 4–5cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1kg chicken thighs, skin on and bone in
250ml hot chicken stock – from 1 stock cube
2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
8 cloves of garlic, peeled
650g new potatoes, halved, larger ones cut into thirds
4 spring onions, finely sliced
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Method:

Preheat the oven to 220ºC/200ºC fan/gas 7. Whisk together the gochujang, soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, sugar and ginger in a jug.
Chuck the chicken into a mixing bowl, spoon over 3 tablespoons of the sauce you have just made and mix well.
Pour the stock into the jug with the remaining sauce and whisk together.
Put the onions, garlic cloves, potatoes and chicken into a 30x40cm roasting tin. Pour over the stock. Cover with foil and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and reduce the temperature to 200ºC/180ºC fan/gas 6. Return the tin to the oven and roast for 30 to 40 minutes or until the chicken is lovely and crispy and the tops of the potatoes golden. Scatter over the spring onions and sesame seeds and serve immediately.