1001 Kitchen Tips #55, #Christmas cooking tips - Can I cook vegetables the day before?

Yes yes yes! Useful tip for your Christmas day cooking - cook your vegetables today (Christmas eve)!

While everything I cook for my clients is cooked fresh on the day, when it comes to those rare times I cook at home I want it to be as easy as possible. Since my first Christmas in the hospitality industry, 1995, there have only been 2 Christmases I haven't worked - one of which I ended up cooking for family, the other cooking at a friend's house. And on both of these occasions they marvelled about how this simple tip - not just preparing veg the day before, but pre-cooking it too, made everything easier on the big day itself.

Due to the late hour - check the time - I'll update this at a later date, but there's step by step blanching tips here. Make sure once cooked it goes in the fridge overnight.

As @HubUK metioned on the Christmas cooking tips post it helps to plan your oven space the day before. There's 3 ways to re-heat veg on the meals that I deliver, you could use any depending on what space you have/ what's easiest:

Re-heating instructions for green veg (french beans in this case) copied from my label printing programme (needs to be quick):

Microwave - Transfer to a microwave proof container.
Microwave for 2 minutes. Stand for 2 minutes. Microwave for a
further 2 minutes.
To oven cook - Add 2 tablespoons of water to the
container and replace lid. Cook on 190 oC for 10 - 12
minutes till hot.
On stove - transfer to a large saucepan. Add a small ladle of water to
the pan and cover with a lid. Place on stove on medium heat for 6 -
10 minutes till warm turning occasionally. The steam created heats
the beans. N.B. If you turn too much they may disintegrate.


Related posts:

Can I cook roast potatoes the day before?