Local Sausage and Vegetable Sheet Pan Dinner with Fresh Corn Dressing

Go on a farm stand stroll, pick up some fresh veggies, Island-made sausage, and a few ears of corn, and combine it all for a delicious sheet pan dinner. Don’t forget to add a few herbs from your garden.

Serves 4

• 1 pound (a total of 4) fresh sausages (any kind), pricked with a knife in a few places
• 8 ounces baby gold potatoes, cut in quarters lengthwise
• 8 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• A handful of shishito peppers or one small (or one-half medium) bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces (optional)
• 3 ounces shallots or small onions, peeled and cut into ¾-inch wide wedges, stem end intact
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 to 2 teaspoons chopped hearty garden herbs (thyme, oregano, rosemary – whatever you like)
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 recipe Fresh Corn Dressing (below)
• 3 to 4 cups salad greens for serving (dressed with a little of the Fresh Corn Dressing or your favorite vinaigrette) 

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Cover a large heavy-duty rimmed sheet pan (12 x 18 inches) with aluminum foil. Arrange a piece of parchment paper on top of the foil. (The foil makes cleanup much easier.)

2. Combine the sausages, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers (if using), shallots or onions, olive oil, herbs, garlic, and salt in a mixing bowl. Toss gently so as not to break up the tomatoes too much before everything is coated with oil. Transfer to the sheet pan and arrange in one layer.

3. Roast, rotating the pan if necessary part of the way through cooking, until the sausages are browned and cooked through, the potatoes are tender, and the other veggies have released a lot of their moisture, shrunken, and browned lightly, about 25 minutes. If the sausages are cooked through and you want to cook the veggies longer, remove the sausages (with tongs) to a warm plate, cover with foil, and return the sheet pan to the oven for 5 or 10 minutes more.

4. To serve, arrange sausage and salad greens on plates. Spoon vegetables over and around sausages, and top with spoonfuls of corn dressing. Garnish with fresh herbs if you like.

Fresh Corn Dressing

This is a simple treatment for fresh corn designed to be used as a counterpoint to the roasted sausages and vegetables in the recipe above. But you could also use it as a boost for any kind of summer salad (green salad, tomato salad, potato salad).

Makes about 1½ cups

• 1¼ cups fresh corn kernels (cut from 2 large or 3 medium ears)
• 1 scallion (white and light green parts), sliced
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
• 2 to 3 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley or any combination of parsley, mint, and basil (plus some small whole herb leaves for garnish)
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

Combine all the ingredients (except for the small whole herb leaves) in a small bowl and mix together gently. Set the dressing and herb leaves aside while roasting sausages.