My Sunday lunch is always something a bit special. I cook almost every day, but Sunday is the only day in the week when meat is half of our menu. During the week, I make mostly stews, pasta, rice, or fish, and Sunday is reserved for homemade junk food, baked meat, and meals that take hours to cook.

This Sunday I was a bit lazy, so I made an all-in-one tray meal, which was actually baked pork with potatoes and other vegetables. What I like about this meal is that everything is made in one baking tray. There’s not a lot of mess or dirty dishes, and I can do other things while the mix is baking

Recipe

• 1kg of pork
• 1kg of potatoes
• 2 smaller onions
• garlic
• tomato
• 2 carrots
• parsnip leaves
• a couple of bigger zucchinis
• spices

Preparing the tray

The biggest job in this kind of meal is all the cutting and dicing. Usually, I prepare everything in advance and just add things to the tray. I begin by placing the marinated meat on the bottom of the tray. Meat is marinated a day early. This time I used a mix of spices(salt, pepper, garlic, curry mix, celery, and herb mix) and oil. I stacked the meat in a bowl and added water to the mixture so that the used amount of oil is smaller. After leaving the marinating meat in the fridge overnight. I take the meat out, stack it on the tray and save the marinating juice for the vegetables.

Then potatoes, onions, carrots, tomatoes and garlic are diced and mixed with the marinating meat juice. I add some more salt and red paprika powder to the mixture and then mix the vegetables well. Vegetables are then placed on top of the meat, covering them completely.

To make the meat and vegetables bake quicker and to keep the meat tender, I cover the top of the tray with aluminum foil which I pop with a fork in a couple of places. The mix is then ready for baking.

Baking

I bake my mix at 200°C/392°F for around 1,5h in a fan oven(the conventional oven will need 220°C/428°F and around 2h). The length of the baking depends on the type of potatoes and the thickness of the meat. If the pieces are bigger, the meat will take longer to bake, and if they are thinner, the whole meal can be ready in just one hour.

Once the oven is hot, I just place the tray in the oven and forget about the tray for around 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, I open the oven and check if the steam is coming out of the holes and if the mix is sizzling. If the steam is still not out that means the mix needs another 15 minutes. If the sizzling is loud then I take the tray outside and open the foil.

Once the foil is off I take all the meat out of the tray to a plate, add zucchinis and parsley leaves to the potatoes and stir the mix. When the added ingredients are equally distributed, I add the meat back, but this time the meat is coming on the top. I place the tray back in the oven without the foil for 15 minutes, take it out, turn the meat and leave another 15 minutes in the oven. The meal is done once all of the ingredients are tender.

Lunch and dinner leftovers

I served my lunch with a cucumber/cottage cheese salad. This is very similar to tzatziki, only here we make it with slices of cucumber and usually sour cream. I make it with light cottage cheese, which is very creamy, but not as full of milk fat. Making the salad with this cheese makes it extra creamy and compact.

As I said in my previous posts, Croats like a big lunch, and for dinner, we usually eat leftovers or something light. This is why I make my meal around noon, and we eat it again for dinner. The vegetables and meat are still tender in the evening. The meal can be heated or eaten even cold. I like to eat vegetables cold in the evening. The cold vegetables are actually much sweeter than the heated ones.

This is a perfect meal for occasions when you need a full meal but don’t have the time or will to stand around the stove all the time. While I was making it I managed to move my seedlings to the balcony, vacuum and dust the house, and clean and wash the dishes. So it is perfect for occasions when multitasking is necessary. The choice of vegetables is absolutely yours, and the mix can be made with mushrooms too. I usually add some mushrooms to the mix, but I didn’t have any at home this time.

An All-in-one tray meal can be eaten right away. The hot potatoes and meat will melt in the mouth, and the cold cucumber salad gives the necessary freshness. Also, it goes great with a glass of wine or a fizzy drink.