Make ahead Christmas lunch HELP!

[MindfulBear]

Afternoon!
Looking to prepare ahead :

• potatoes for roasting
• ditto carrots & parsnips
• brussel sprouts to dry up with chestnuts & pancetta on the day

2 questions :

1. How do you pre prepare your veg?

Would this plan sound right:

• par boil parsnips 2 mins - drain & then freeze when cool
• parboil potatoes 7 mins drain fluff and then freeze
• carrots - parboil 2 mins - drain and then freeze when cool
• sprouts - parboil 2 mins and then put in iced water - freeze when chilled

1. Do you cook from frozen or defrost on Christmas morning?

Thank you!

I just prep my veg and leave it in water (don’t par boil).
I par cook my potatoes when I get up in the morning ready to roast later.

I’m not sure why people get so stressed out TBH it’s only a roast dinner and other than peeling the veg there isn’t really much to do.

Ha ha!!
But it isn’t just a roast dinner is it? It’s the whole family in 1 place inside for a whole day (or even a weekend) when normally no one spends that long Together as no one can stand each other?
It’s the wrapping. It’s the finding gifts. It’s the planning. It’s the fact it isn’t just 1 meal. It’s probably 5 or 6 meals with all these guests.

The potatoes can be cooked from frozen. Freeze them on a tray when they've cooled then pop them in freezer bags.
I'll prepare everything else early and put in water until they need cooking.

Good tip on the tele the other day. Fully cook the veg the day before (carrots and Brussels certainly) and then drain and put in a zip lock back with as much air removed as possible. Then just pop the whole bag (or a couple of bags) in a pan of boiling water to warm through. Or tip out to sauté.

Par cooking potatoes tends to make them go grey, so yes you would have to freeze.

Other things I’ll do - mash, bread sauce, red cabbage - all made and frozen. Stuffing will be made the night before. Turkey will be put on the roasting tray, stuffed with an onion and wrapped in bacon, wrapped tightly in foil and put in the fridge ready to go. I then open the foil, put wine in and reseal tightly and cook via the Phil vickery method which is much quicker, then leaving the oven free for the roast potatoes which are the only thing I’ll do from scratch.

And yes, it is only one meal. But my house layout is odd and the kitchen is on a half floor different to the living room so me cooking while they all sip gin and relax makes me feel like the family servant. So I do as much as I can so I get to chill out too.

I’ve worked out I’ll be serving 182 servings of food over the next 6 days, so as much as I can do before they all descend tomorrow night is pretty much essential.

Alabaster, I'm cooking our turkey for the first time using Phil's method. I've noticed on the recipe it mentions getting the stock liquid to boiling point before adding the turkey and sealing the foil up. How do you go about doing this because I'm a little confused by it? I'd love to prep the turkey in its tray the day before, like you mentioned, but I'm having a mental block imagining how I'd do it because of this boiling recommendation.
Thanks

Well, maybe I do it a bit randomly!! But I prep the turkey onto the tray, foil, ignore it overnight then shove it on the burner, open the foil, add the liquid and shut the foil again barr a tiny steam gap. Bring it to boil and watch for steam then let it carry on for 5 minutes. Drop the heat. Reaseal. Put in oven. Always works really well.

Thanks, that's explains a lot actually. Very helpful!

For several years in a row I've done roast potatoes in advance. It's a Mary Berry thing I randomly saw in a magazine but it's brilliant. You do actually roast them to a certain point, then stop and cool them down. Bung them back in the oven to finish off next day. Always works - recipe here

I'm making the gravy too. If you google it's called Jamie Oliver's Get-Ahead Gravy. Another reliable one!

Funny that I don't have much time for either of these two normally, but I'm graciously prepared to make an exception at Christmas