This blog talks about appetizers that can be frozen ahead.

When you plan a home catering to feed some friends for a birthday party, reception or holiday get-together, cooking may become quite a task. Appetizers that can be frozen ahead serve as an extremely productive way to begin organizing food preparation ahead while you still cook fresh dishes for the actual event. Whether you are planning to prepare savory or sweet appetizers, you may try a few of these freeze-ahead appetizers.

Seafood

A spicy version of the original style crab cakes are the Cajun crab cakes. These appetizers are really crispy outside while they are spongy on the interior, along with a little bit of spice. These can be prepared and an entire batch can be frozen ahead of the party time. Sauté the seafood on the stove before serving them. That is all it takes to make them look fresh when they are served. Seafood soups can also be frozen ahead of an occasion. You can also freeze seafood soups ahead of an event. You should prepare oyster bisque along with pureed rice as a replacement for heavy cream in order to balance the flavor of oysters. You can easily make it ahead and warm before you serve it as a soup starter.

Vegetarian

You can also try preparing stuffed mushroom caps by filling them with smoky pancetta and creamy goat cheese. Pick small button mushrooms as they are most suitable for hors d'oeuvre-size portions. Mushroom caps can be frozen up to two weeks and you will have to bake them to bring them back to the normal stage. Olive, asiago pinwheels and pepper can also be baked straight from the freezer. They can be stored in the freezer for two weeks. It is always good to have frozen puff pastry in hand for any last-minute appetizers as they can be baked fairly fast. Other vegetarian appetizers that freeze to perfection include brie, apple and walnut phyllo triangles and they last for maximum two weeks in the freezer.

Meats

A rare and easy appetizer that can be frozen days or even weeks in advance is sweet and sour pork meatballs. It offers an unusual flavor which is simply delicious.  When you freeze meatballs in the sauce you can easily warm the entire dish all at once before it has to be served. You can substitute pork with ground beef or chicken. Lamb ribbons with mint pesto is yet another great freeze-ahead appetizer. Mint pesto can be prepared ahead and refrigerated for three days while lam, when layered between waxed paper and stored in an airtight container lasts for up to two weeks.

image credits: cbc.ca