Last Updated on February 28, 2026
A cookbook to ease you into the weekend
In my household, Friday Night Dinner – FND as we like to call it – is synonymous with roast chicken. Hence, when a review copy of The Art of Friday Night Dinner (Bloomsbury) arrived at my door, I paged through it immediately in search of a chicken to roast. I found a recipe amidst a host of interesting dishes by Eleanor Steafel, who has collated recipes from her weekly column in The Telegraph into a book. She loves her Friday night dinners as much as I do, so I felt sure the book would be useful in my kitchen.
As Friday had come and gone for the week, I invited family around for Sunday lunch – that other meal where a roast is required- and announced there would be roast chicken. That usually gets any reluctant stragglers to gather around my table. I made the rookie mistake of not reading the recipe through, and hence, I miscalculated the cooking time. Steafal warns in her lengthy introduction to the recipe that her roast chicken with chicken juice rice and orange and onion salad ‘takes a bit of time’. Cue jokes for how mum should have gone to Specsavers and a few hangry grumbles as we finally sat down to eat at 4 pm.
I must admit that while prepping the chicken, I muttered to myself that this recipe was a bit of a faff – my roast chicken dinner involves all of two minutes prep and then 90 minutes in the oven, roasties in for an hour. Job done. Steafal’s chicken involved a marinade with two mustards, orange juice, brown sugar, grated garlic and fennel seeds. The full four hours of marinating time might not have been fully observed on this occasion. Then the bird was slow-roasted at a low heat – hence the 4 pm sit-down – while I made the salad of orange, mint and soused onions. You can substitute the rice for potatoes, but I am glad I gave rice a chance. It tasted lovely, although my rice took longer to cook in the pan juices on the hob than the recipe suggested. I grew concerned that in the time it took to cook the rice, the resting roast chicken would surely cool off too much. I put it back in the low oven to keep it warm.
Since I had so much time on my hands while the chicken roasted oh so slowly, I made the radish remoulade that Steafal suggests is a good accompaniment to the chicken. It was. The chicken itself was succulent and juicy, and had a beautiful glaze that I have never achieved with my usual roasting method.
As Steafal enjoys staying in with a fried cheese sandwich and a martini as much as she does having friends round for a slap-up meal, The Art of Friday Night Dinner is an eclectic collection of recipes that range from emergency spaghetti to baked potatoes, or tuna melts, all the way to pork chops with quince butter or steak with persillade potatoes and bearnaise. I know what I would hope for if I were one of her friends. At home, though, you will find many dishes that will cosset and comfort, whether you are having some me-time or everyone-pile-in-and-eat-time. Those with a sweet tooth will be spoilt for choice with offerings including a hot tahini fudge sundae with sesame pine nut brittle or brown sugar pavlova with miso caramel peaches and bourbon cream. How could your weekend not get off to the right start with such dishes on a Friday night?
Roast chicken with chicken juice rice
Ingredients
- 1 medium chicken about 1.3kg
- 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp light brown sugar
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 2 large cloves garlic grated
- 1 tsp coarse salt
- 2 oranges zest and juice
- 80 grams butter softened
- 2 red onions peeled and cut into wedges
- 1 large cinnamon stick
- 4 bay leaves torn off stem
- 600 ml white wine or dry sherry
- 370 grams basmati rice
- 135 grams currants
- pomegranate molasses to drizzle
- Greek yoghurt to serve on the side
Instructions
- Make marinade by mixing the two mustards with the sugar, salt, garlic and fennel seeds. combine well and add orange zest and juice.
- Put chicken breast side down in roasting tin and pour over marinade and massage into the chicken. Add some also to the cavity. Cover tin and leave to rest in fridge for at least 4 hours. Take out 40 minutes before you begin roasting. Preheat oven to 220 C/ 200 C fan/Gas7.
- Uncover chicken and smear over the butter on the chicken skin. Add red onion wedges to the tin plus cinnamon stick and bay leaves.
- Place chicken in oven and turn down heat immediately to 150 C/130 C fan/Gas 2. Roast chicken for one hour. Remove and add 150ml of white wine. Return to oven for one hour. Baste occasionally. Remove tin again and add another 150ml white wine. Return to oven for 30 minutes. Test that it is cooked through – juice should run clear, skin will b a lovely brown colour and leg should come away easily at the join with the breast.
- While chicken is cooking, soak the rice in cold water. Drain before cooking.
- Transfer chicken to a warm serving dish, having tipped out any juices in the cavity. Leave the onions and aromatics in the fin. Put roasting tin on the hob – you may need to use two rings to distribute heat evening – and add remaining wine. Simmer for a minute. Then add 750 ml water and season. Bring to the boil and add the drained rice along with the currants. stir to make sure the rice is all covered with liquid. Cover roasting tin tightly with foil and turn down heat to lowest setting. Cook for 25 minutes. Turn off heat and let rice sit for 5 minutes. Fluff up rice and drizzle with a little pomegranate molasses.
- Place chicken on top of the rice and serve.
The Art of Friday Night Dinner is published by Bloomsbury and is available from Amazon and other good booksellers, priced at £21
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