Freezing potatoes ready to roast

[attheendoftheendofmytether]

Just a couple of quick questions if anyone does this

I do the Nigella thing of adding semolina before roasting (makes them absolutely perfect), would I do this once par boiled before freezing or when putting into the goose fat ?

How much longer do you cook them for ?

Thank you very much.

my mum used to parboil potatoes, then freeze them when cool way before Nigella!

I never used semolina, but I presume it's to soak up the sogginess of the potatoes when defrosted - that would make sense to me.

what do you think?

(mum would just defrost and put the potatoes in really hot oil. nice and crunchy. yum)

and if used from defrosted they will be much quicker to roast.

I wouldn't roast them from frozen, but I'm sure that works too.

Nigella doesn't mention freezing unfortunately. Am absolutely terrible cook left to my own devices so follow recipes to the letter. She puts semolina on once parboiled, before tipping into oil/fat. My attemt at freezing is an uncharacteristic adventure!

Hmm defrost you say? Only ever seen people talk about cooking from frozen. This is why I only use recipes...the confusion. Am sure I'll be there parboiling xmas day, steaming my make up off.

I think freezing them might not work - have never tried it & it's only going to add to your stress on the day!

It's not the time for experimenting - if you are determined to do this, try with a couple each way in the next week or so!

When I sued to do Christmas for the hordes, I would alway have a roast chicken a week or two before & make masses of extra gravy & freeze it for 'the day'. I found not having to make gravy really made life easier. I'd add any juiced from the rested tyrkey to my ready made stuff.

why don't you have a test?
there's time!

parboil the spuds & freeze today/tomorrow.
defrost a small batch over night on Friday and roast them

then somtime next week do a batch from frozen

see what's best.

as for doing it fresh - DH just shakes the pan on parboil potatoes to break them up a bit then puts them in the hot fat/oil.
kids call him "King of Roast potatoes! "

Thanks both - yes I think a test is the only way to go.

I do a great xmas dinner but its all set pieces from various recipes.

Freezing parboiled potatoes is one of those things always listed on the Christmas tips type threads and I thought it might reduce the steaminess of the whole procedure.

magi

frozen chips are made very much the same way!

Apparently it works fine. And you can cook them from frozen. More here

Mine are in the freezer ready to go...

Thank you all! Am loving the idea of idea of one less boiling saucepan on Christmas Day. Gravy is my other challenge. If I could get that to heat up stage would be fab, or might cheat.

It does work. Just make sure you freeze them spread out on baking parchment on a baking tray, otherwise they'll all stick together in a clump!

have you tried making gravy with cornflour?
no lumps!

For gravy I would recommend Jamie Oliver's Get Ahead Gravy. I did it last year and it was a great time saver. I always find gravy the most stressful, as I like to make it the non-Bisto way but it's quite time consuming and hard when your attention needs to be on lots of other things at once. This froze well and I just defrosted it the day before and put it in a jug in the fridge and on the day I added the turkey juices and heated it through.nReally easy.

Roasted spuds from frozen are also fine!

I'm going to try this as I have been given the job of roasters by MIL. I also want to try semolina instead of flour, would you use coarse or fine or doesn't it matter?

*roasties

I use fine (didn't know there were 2 types) but prob doesn't matter as gets absorbed by the fat. It really does make a difference to the crunchiness. Have had so many compliments on my roasties since I started adding it. HTH

Honestly, if gravy stresses you at the last minute, just buy it in. I often do.

I have also frozen home-made gravy before and it was fine reheated, I would defrost it though rather than heating from frozen just in case it splits. Add a splash of water when heating it and taste before you serve - I find freezing can sometimes knock the seasoning down a bit...

Thank you :)
Just to double check
Par boil
Add semolina
Put on baking tray (not touching each other)
Let cool and then freeze
Put them in the oven frozen with fat as you would normally on the day for about 35-40mins?