RECIPE: Sheet-pan sausage is a blueprint for future meals

There’s a reason sheet-pan dinners appear frequently in this column — they’re simple, easy to prepare, and almost as easy to clean up. You can also get creative with them without too much effort. Switch up the proteins and seasonings, add a new favorite vegetable, and top with whatever herbs or salad greens look freshest at the grocery store. So think of this sheet-pan recipe for spicy sausage with chickpeas and broccolini as more of a blueprint than a prescriptive set of directions.

I use broccolini and chickpeas because they require little prep or cook time. Just trim the woody ends off the broccolini and drain the chickpeas. After 15 minutes in the oven, they will crisp on the outside and turn tender in the center. But, if your protein of choice necessitates a longer cook time, they can tolerate it. You could use regular broccoli, cauliflower or even green beans instead of the broccolini, and swap a hearty bean, like pinto, or even cubed haloumi or feta cheese for the chickpeas.

To season the mix, I stir in a jarred tikka masala simmer sauce, one of my favorite weeknight shortcuts. Simmer sauces, which you can find in the international aisle of the supermarket, are packed with flavorful ingredients and can easily be used as a seasoning mixture instead of the base for a saucy dish. Just about any simmer sauce will work here, so use something that suits your mood. Finally, I like to use merguez lamb sausages in this recipe, but you can opt for any spice-heavy sausage you’d like. Mexican chorizo and spicy Italian will work just as well as merguez.