How early in the day can I make party food?

shortie_chik

I'm having some friends over on Saturday night for a party rather than dinner, and planning to make as much of the food as I can in the afternoon, so I just have minor popping-in-the-oven to do once they're here. My question is how early / late in the day can I make these dishes as I don't want them to be kind of stale if I make them too early.

So I'm gonna make (1) pasta salad, (2) rice salad, (3) baked chicken with chorizo.

The pasta salad is just cooked pasta, roasted peppers, sundried tomatoes, pine nuts, basil & rocket. It'll be gluten free pasta if that makes any difference. I'm thinking just cook the pasta before they arrive (as gluten free pasta cooks so quickly & turns to mush!) & add the leaves when I put it on the table so they're not too wilted. Hopefully it'd be eaten within an hour or so of assembly.

Rice salad is just stir fry some veg (spring onions, garlic, ginger, red pepper, carrot, frozen peas) & add to cooked rice with some tamari sauce & sweet chilli sauce. I reckon this will be fresh enough to make ~2 hours before & keep in the fridge.

Gonna prep the chicken, chorizo & some veg, put my casserole dish in the fridge until time to go in the oven.

Any advice about whether or not these things will "keep" and still taste nice & fresh? I don't really want to be chained to the kitchen when my guests are here. Any tips appreciated!

Plan B is rice krispie buns!

amklo

The chicken and chirizo sounds lovely and perfect for doing in advance. Personally I'd serve it with some roasted baby potatoes as I think it's less effort than the pasta & rice salad - just par boil them early in the day when you're doing your chicken and then when you're putting the chicken in the oven heat some seasoned olive oil (with garlic\paprika\herbs or whatever) and pop in the baby potatoes when the oil is hot. They'll cook away together while you're having a glass of wine with your friends. O and a fresh baguette is always a winner and no fuss for you.

shortie_chik

amklo wrote: »

The chicken and chirizo sounds lovely and perfect for doing in advance. Personally I'd serve it with some roasted baby potatoes as I think it's less effort than the pasta & rice salad - just par boil them early in the day when you're doing your chicken and then when you're putting the chicken in the oven heat some seasoned olive oil (with garlic\paprika\herbs or whatever) and pop in the baby potatoes when the oil is hot. They'll cook away together while you're having a glass of wine with your friends. O and a fresh baguette is always a winner and no fuss for you.

Thanks amklo! Good to know this is a suitable dish for advance prep. I'll pop some par-boiled baby potatoes in with the chicken.

I kind of have to do some veggie salads as there are some vegetarians coming, so as delicious as chorizo & chicken is, I don't want these guests to go hungry!

The fridge is jam packed with "starter" veggies & dips & such now. Gotta get cooking to make room to chill beer! :cool: