Could I freeze this?

[Kim Shook]

My daughter is graduating from college the weekend of May 18-20. We have the menu for her party pretty well in hand. But I will have both sets of my parents in town visiting probably from at least Friday night. Do you think that I could freeze this recipe successfully? I would love to get at least one meal done ahead of time. That way, I could concentrate on getting ready for the party and just heat that up, buy some good bread and make a salad.

Ta, Kim

[Luckylies]

A few recipes are listed, which one is it?

[Waterzoy]

My daughter is graduating from college the weekend of May 18-20.  We have the menu for her party pretty well in hand.  But I will have both sets of my parents in town visiting probably from at least Friday night.  Do you think that I could freeze this recipe successfully?  I would love to get at least one meal done ahead of time.  That way, I could concentrate on getting ready for the party and just heat that up, buy some good bread and make a salad.

Ta, Kim

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The link took me to a list of several pasta dishes....was this what you meant? If so, I must say that I have never had any success freezing pasta. The sauce part of the dish isn't an issue but the texture of the pasta component goes soft and mushy and it's never as good as the times you cook it as it's required.

[Kim Shook]

A few recipes are listed, which one is it?

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Sorry, I am a big dummy. This should do it!

Kim

[Dana]

I wouldn't. You could make the filling and stuff the cooked shells the day before, then just put the sauce together and bake the day of. I've not had good luck with freezing dairy.

[Luckylies]

Actually I'd disagree. this should be better than fine...just make sure to truly undercook the (about 2 minutes before al dente on the package directions) also if you plan on cooking from frozen (not thawed) thin your tomato sauce a bit with some water so when it cooks it's doesn't become paste.

have fun!

[Dana]

If this was a tomato based sauce, I'd say go for it as well, but it's not. It's roux based with 1/2 and 1/2, which can't be whisked after heating. I still wouldn't do it, but maybe I'm just over-cautious.

[Shaya]

Kim,

I freeze stuffed pasta all the time, cannelloni included. However, two caveats regarding the particular recipe you mention.

Firstly I would not top them with sauce prior to freezing. I would stuff the shells, place them on a sheet pan until they freeze, then put them into a freezer bag until ready to bake.

I would make the sauce separately and freeze it, and pull it out of the freezer the day-of, bring to a boil to loosen, cool it off then pour it over the frozen cannelloni prior to baking.

My seceond commend relates to the filling. I'm not sure this is the best type of filling to freeze, as there doesn't seem to be any binder other than the eggs. Freezing is likely to alter the texture of the eggs, so I'm not convinced you will have a cohesive filling after baking.

The recipe lists green onion, spinach, cooked chicken and chopped ham. I'm not sure how the chicken and green onion would hold up to the freezing. It seems to me that the chicken would take on an unpleasant texture; the top part of the green onion is likely to take on a lot of water and turn very dark, which could be unpleasant once baked. Also note that the recipe calls for frozen spinach - but since you will be re-freezing the dish, I would definitely use fresh - wash it, place it on a hot pan water still clinging to the leaves, cover for a minute or two until wilted, shock it in ice bath, then squeeze really really well and chop finely.

Remember, because you are freezing you will get a more watery result at the end of cooking.

Have you considered a more simple ricotta - nutmeg - spinach - parmesan filling topped with a fresh tomato sauce at baking time?

Edited May 3, 2007 by Shaya (log)