Food for thought

Launching our new column on the art of Friday night dinner

Ilearnt early on that Friday night is unequivocally the best night of the week. As a child, the end of the week was when I was allowed to stay up and have dinner with my parents, long after my brother and sister were put to bed. While they were cajoled into going to sleep, I would hide in the downstairs lavatory so as not to raise any suspicions that something fun might be about to happen without them: then, when the coast was clear, out came the crisps and on went Top of

the Pops. If there is a heaven, I think every day might just involve an endless loop of salt and vinegar Kettle Chips and Friday night telly.

When it comes to dinner, Friday is the day when the rule book goes out of the window.

Trying not to eat meat during the week? Friday night calls for a perfect cut. Sticking to a Monday-thursday drinking ban? Pick up a bottle of something good on the way home.

A Friday meal can satisfy a thousand different moods. There are the spontaneous dinner parties featuring an elaborate Ottolenghi-style feast, the ingredients for which you seem to spend your entire month’s salary on; the indulgent dinners for two with the best piece of steak you can find and a pile of crispy fried potatoes; and, perhaps the most enticing of all, the bowl of pasta for one, cooked with a little love and attention, served in your favourite bowl and eaten on the sofa with a large glass of red.

For me, and I’m sure many of you, Friday night often means fish. And not a sad salmon fillet you might lob some soy sauce on and stir fry with a bit of veg, but a whole roasted fish. There is something so celebratory about serving one whole, fragrant with citrus and fennel, for everyone to dive into. All it really needs is a green salad and some good bread, but these wine and sherry-soaked potatoes are completely delicious and make it that bit more special.

You’d never do it on a Tuesday. But this is Friday night and you should eat exactly what you fancy.