Preboiling roast potaoes - can I do this?

[jumpyjan]

On Christmas day I am hoping to prep as much stuff as possible first thing in the morning so the actual cooking bit will only take about an hour.

I was thinking about boiling the potatoes in the morning and just leaving them in a colander with the lid on until I am ready to roast them. Do you think that would be ok?

I was wondering about doing the same with the sprouts too. I am doing a delia recipe where you just blanch them then stir fry them with chestnuts. Thought I could parboil first thing to get that bit done.

I always pre boil the potatoes ready and leave them covered until they are ready to go in the oven otherwise you have too much to do at once. Not sure about the sprouts but cannot see how it would be a problem, I have that Delia recipe too and we might give that a try too.

I always do this and actually find they roast a bit better. It should be ok with the sprouts too I often par boil stuff way in advance like that to save time and cooking space.

Great. Def going to do that then. I just wasnt sure whether it would gave to go in the fridge - I have no fridge space!

cinders I can recommend the delia recipe - makes sprouts more interesting

I think with sprouts you need to rinse them in cold water after parboiling so that they stay green - or I could just be making that up.

According to Mary Berry on Woman's Hour the other week, you can ROAST them the day before as long as you leave them in the pan they were cooked in, pour off any fat and then you can reheat them on the day for about 40 mins to crisp up. That's what I'm going to be doing - I always find the roasties suffer and/or the whole meal is waiting around for them to crisp up

Parboil the night before then store in a large pan of cold water in a cool place. I cover mine and pop them in the garage!

I always par boil mine the day before. Then roll them in melted butter and leave to cool. Store in a cool place overnight. Next day cook in goose fat. You get absolutely perfect roasties every time.

The BEST roast potatoes IMO are parboiled and frozen in advance, then shoved in the roasting tin (smoking fat) still frozen. The outsides go really crispy and the the insides really floury. I do this every year to save time on the day but most importantly, because they taste fantastic.

Thanks all - had no idea there were so many pre parboilers out there

It will save me loads of hassle. I hate having loads of pans bubbling away and steaming up the kitchen.

My plan is apart from shoving the turkey in the oven and giving it the occassional baste, I will do nothing until 1 oclock when I will spring into action and get lunch on the table for 2. Anyone who comes into the kitchen during that hour will get an unfestive reaction