need advice on prethanksgiving dinner prep!

[maui420]

hi everyone,

i was wondering if some of you can help me out on how to prep for saturday's dinner without sacrificing quality....

i have a few questions:

for my green beans, can i boil them, then toss them in cold water, drain, pat dry, and put back in the fridge? when ready to serve the next day, sautee them in butter, etc...?

i always cooked them right after. will storing them in the fridge for a day diminish the green bean freshness?

can I make the mash potatoes on friday and serve them on saturday night? if so, what would be the best way to store the mash potatoes and whats the best way to reheat them? the same goes for my wife's baked ziti.

i have a few more questions, but ill wait....thanks for the help everyone!

[Della]

I am not an expert but I would suggest blanching the green beans the morning of your dinner not the day before -just blanch them, shock them in cold/ice water and wrap in a damp paper towel and put in a zip lock bag and refridgerate till needed. Depending on what you are going to do with them - yes, just saute lightly in a pan with butter, panchetta, etc salt, pepper, almond slices etc etc - not sure how you want to serve the final dish.

As for the mashed potatoes - I would peel and slice the potatoes in the morning and put in a bowl of cool water and they can sit on the counter until you are ready to boil and mash them. They don't take very long to mash so I personally wouldn't make the day ahead.

How many people are coming? And I don't really have any thoughts about your wife's baked ziti - has she ever made it ahead of time before? Does it normally taste better the next day? Do you have fridge space to store it till you re-heat and serve?

Again - not an expert - just thinking about how I would handle it myself.

Good luck!

Della

[snowangel]

What is the entire menu? That would be helpful because we'd have a better idea about stove burner and oven space, temps, etc. How many people?

I know the ziti will be just fine; I often make pasta dishes that are meant to be baked ahead of time. I'd think the green beans would be fine, but I'm not sure about the potatoes.

[Marlene]

Mashed potatoes by themselves don't seem to freeze or hold over well. I find though that if I use them as twice baked potatoes or madelaines, they work very well frozen ahead or chilled ahead.

[Malawry]

Yes, you can blanch and shock your beans in advance. I usually wrap them in a dry paper towel or two (not a damp one) to absorb extra moisture after blanching, shocking and patting dry. I do it all the time for catering.

Yes, you can do the ziti early. You can even freeze the ziti to make more fridge room if needed, it just takes longer to reheat and may need an extra hit of sauce after residing in the deep freeze.

Do not do your mashers in advance. Some people will disagree with me but I think mashed potatoes lose texture if chilled and reheated. They're just not as good, they get mealier and less creamy. You can make them early in the day but keep them warm, don't let them cool and definitely don't stick them in the fridge. On Thanksgiving Day itself I usually direct my 14yo cousin on making them late in the morning, and then I put them in a metal bowl and cover with butter wrappers pressed on the surface (you can just film with butter if there's no wrappers handy). The bowl is rested with its bottom in a pot of hot water on the stove which I periodically turn on and off to keep the water, and therefore the mashers, hot. Restaurants often use Alto-Shaams for this same job.

[Steven Blaski]

You can make the mashed potatoes up to two days in advance and refrigerate them. The trick is waiting till right before you serve them to add in the butter. I've followed Pam Anderson's recipe many times and it works great:

Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes

[IrishCream]

I'm going to confirm Steven's rec of Pam Anderson's recipe. I just tried it for the first time this week and it worked. Most make-ahead masher recipes call for cream cheese, sour cream and/or eggs none of which I care to use. This recipe uses standard ingredients. Due to an unforeseen delay I had to leave the potatoes in the double boiler for over an hour and they held beautifully. (Instead of mixing in the butter as soon as they entered the double boiler, I placed room-temp butter under the potatoes and stirred it in just before serving).

[I_call_the_duck]

If its not too late, the NYTimes had an article that may help you get ready for the big pre-day. Countdown to the Main Event

For mashed potatoes, I've made them ahead of time put them into a baking dish, sprinkled them with grated parmesan, and baked them off until they're puffy and brown. It's not your standard dish, but we actually like the crunchy coating better.

[melkor]

I would think if you were planning to do mashed potatoes in advance that you'd want to bake the potatoes and leave them in the fridge until you were ready to use them. When you are finishing them up, I'd melt butter and cream together on the stove over low heat with a metal bowl sitting on top of the pan to preheat. Use a ricer to mash and skin the potatoes into the hot bowl then pour the hot butter and cream over the potatoes, season and serve. The texture of steamed potatoes will suffer overnight, baked potatoes are able to absorb so much liquid that you need to worry less about the texture changes and keeping them in the skins overnight will help protect them from getting gummy.

[amccomb]

I, too, am interested in what I can prepare ahead.

I have a dish that I would love to prepare the day before and either partially or fully bake the day before.

Will that work with this recipe?

http://www.emerils.com/recipes/by_name/cor...ce_pudding.html

[Della]

Oh yes- of course - dry not damp paper towel on the beans. I stand corrected! THANKS

Della

[IrishCream]

I would think if you were planning to do mashed potatoes in advance that you'd want to bake the potatoes and leave them in the fridge until you were ready to use them.  When you are finishing them up, I'd melt butter and cream together on the stove over low heat with a metal bowl sitting on top of the pan to preheat.  Use a ricer to mash and skin the potatoes into the hot bowl then pour the hot butter and cream over the potatoes, season and serve.  The texture of steamed potatoes will suffer overnight, baked potatoes are able to absorb so much liquid that you need to worry less about the texture changes and keeping them in the skins overnight will help protect them from getting gummy.

←

That sounds interesting, Dave. How do you reheat the baked potatoes? Have you ever tried this method? While it sounds lovely, it doesn't accomplish the basic goal which is to make the mashed potatoes way ahead of time.

In the Pam Anderson recipe referenced above, the potatoes are mashed with all the liquid while freshly cooked (I made them a day ahead) so they don't suffer from the overnight steamed effect. Nothing to do the day of service except stir melted butter into them...and they hold well if dinner gets delayed.

I will admit they turned out much fluffier and lighter than I am used to...more like a potato puree a la Robuchon without all the butter.

Edited November 19, 2005 by IrishCream (log)

[Foodie Craze]

hi everyone,

i was wondering if some of you can help me out on how to prep for saturday's dinner without sacrificing quality....

i have a few questions:

←

We have some make-ahead Thanksgiving recipes -- including a creamy mashed potatoes recipe -- in the Foodie Craze Thanksgiving Guide. Also tips on turkey thawing, etc. Go to the "Freebies for Foodies" page of our website ... www.triviacraze.com. The guide is a downloadable file, and is free for the taking.

Happy Thanksgiving!