The Art of Friday Night Dinner: Recipes for the best night of the week

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Add the fennel seeds and chilli flakes and cook for 1 minute, then return the sausage nuggets to the pan.

Her features were distinctive, and she deployed them to comedic advantage. Her lidded eyes could be languidly seductive or quizzically innocent, her brows could arch sardonically while her face remained still, and a wry kink in her lips could curl into a feline smile, accentuated by her high cheekbones. My own hob set off my carbon monoxide alarm just before Christmas. I’d just started preparing a dinner for 58 people at a catered event and had to switch off 10kg of beef shin until the engineer arrived, which was less than ideal. His advice, after fixing the dodgy gas ring? Open the windows every hour if you’re doing a slow braise.

And amongst the recipes are thoughts on the glamour of mixing a martini for one, the lifesaving magic of a really good spaghetti carbonara, and the joy of a table laden with bits, waiting for hungry hands. a b Lacey, Hester (24 May 1998). "How We Met: Sheila Steafel and Barry Cryer". The Independent on Sunday . Retrieved 27 August 2019. First, make the marinade. Put both mustards, brown sugar, fennel seeds, garlic and one teaspoon of coarse salt in a bowl. Use a large fork to mash everything together. Add the orange zest and juice. With just a month left before he leaves his job at BT and commits to food full time, his only real concern is that his cooking might change with his new lifestyle. “I don’t want to lose touch with the way I cook. If I’m fully immersed in food I don’t want to be tempted to make things that I wouldn’t have traditionally made when I had a busy full-time job.” Food writer Eleanor Steafel agrees. In fact, this is the ethos that has shaped her popular Telegraph column The Art of Friday Night Dinner, on which her debut cookbook is based.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, then add the honey and swirl the pan so that the honey and butter mix. Take the pan off the heat. It’s 12:30am on a Friday night and I’m watching TV with my siblings, when my brother’s phone rings. It’s his friend, Freddie, who lives a few streets away: “Alright mate? Just seen your parents down by the river. They’re in a bit of a state.”It’s part of the rhythm of most professional kitchens too, he says. “There is something beautiful about coming in in the morning, turning the gas on, lighting all the stoves and having a coffee. It’s like a ritual for chefs in kitchens around the world.” Pour in the wine and let it bubble up. Add the grated nutmeg to taste and the lemon zest and juice. Simmer for 1 minute, then turn the heat off and add the cream. Stir everything together and leave it all to sit while the pasta cooks. Set a large frying pan over a medium heat. When the pan is hot, drizzle a little olive oil over each sandwich and sit them – oiled side down – in the pan. Pop a piece of baking paper on top, then sit a heavy pan on top of the sandwiches to flatten them. Fry for 3 minutes, until the cheese is beginning to melt, then remove the pan and paper, drizzle the top sides with a little oil and flip the sandwiches. Cook for another 2 minutes or so, using the paper and pan again. For the first month, I channelled my frustration into rearranging the house. Mum was impressively patient as I walked into rooms, declared them unacceptable and began tearing them apart. She left me to it while I stomped about her kitchen. “Lovely, darling,” she’d say through gritted teeth. “I’m sure you’re right, that was a stupid place for the bread bin.”