Freezing Nigella's Potato Cakes

Asked by shivvy1211. Answered on 7th November 2012

Full question

Hi, I am hosting my 40th birthday party in a couple of weeks and I would like to prepare some food ahead of time. Is it possible to make and freeze the Potato Cakes from Nigella Express in advance and then defrost on the day of the party before dressing them with the smoked salmon? Many thanks Siobhan

Our answer

It is possible to make small blinis, drop scones or the potato pancakes in advance and freeze them. The pancakes are best served slightly warm so we do suggest that you pop them into an oven for a few minutes before serving.

Make and cook the pancakes following the instructions in the recipe. When the pancakes have cooled we suggest that you package the pancakes in foil. Put a single layer of pancakes in the centre of a piece of foil and then fold the 4 sides of the foil up and over the pancakes and seal to form a tight package - you can usually get around 8 pancakes per package. Seal the foil packages in resealable plastic freezer bags and freeze for up to 3 months.

You can thaw the pancakes overnight in the fridge and then reheat the packages in an oven that has been preheated to 150c/300F for 5 to 8 minutes, until the pancakes are piping hot. However you can also reheat the pancakes direct from frozen in which case you will need to reheat the pancake packages for about 10 minutes at the same oven temperature. If you are reheating a large number of pancakes and have to stack the foil packages in the oven then it will take longer for the pancakes to reheat and you will need to swap the packages around part way through the reheating time. Open the packages carefully as they are hot and sometimes steam will escape as the foil is peeled back.