The ability to cook a Sunday roast is absolutely a life skill. And, although roast beef with a glass of red wine is my fave, I haven’t quite mastered that one yet. So, this Mother’s Day, I cooked roast chicken for my wonderful Mum.

Shopping list: 1 roast chicken, 2 onions, 2 carrots, 2 celery sticks, 1 lemon, garlic, a small bunch of fresh thyme/rosemary/sage.

I served the chicken with pigs in blankets, roast carrots and parsnips, sweet potato wedges, and tenderstem broccoli. I certainly had eyes bigger than my belly on Sunday.

1. Make sure you take your chicken out of the oven 30 minutes before cooking

2. Preheat the oven to 240 degrees Celsius

3. Roughly chop up the veg and lay onto a large baking tray with some garlic and olive oil

4. Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Prick the lemon all over with a sharp knife and put inside the chicken’s cavity, along with the bunch of herbs

5. Place the chicken on top of the veg. Turn the oven down to 200 degrees Celsius and put the baking tray into the oven. There is usually a guide of how long to cook the chicken for on the packaging (my 1.6kg bird took 1 hour and 20 mins). If you’re doing roast potatoes and veggies, now is the time.

6. When the chicken is cooked, take the chicken off the baking tray and place it on a board. Cover it with a layer of tin foil and a tea towel and put aside to rest for at least 15 minutes

7. I am really terrible at carving, but Jamie Oliver says: ‘Angle the knife along the breastbone and carve one side off, then the other’ and then just use your hands for all of the fussy bits!

Happy Mother’s Day and Happy International Women Day!