Roast chicken is one of my favourite ways to feed the family and my sister, Sonya, often cooks it when she is here and we all love it.

It is worth getting a good, free-range chicken. I like to serve it with a crisp green vegetable such as sprouting broccoli. With a chicken you should have no waste. You can make stock form the bones, which is good for soup, or to cook rice in.

This tart is absolutely perfect for a relaxed Sunday lunch as there is no need for baking blind or the use of a tart tin. It is a bit like making a sweet version of a pizza. The recipe is also good with plums or rhubarb. You can make the pastry well ahead.

You can get good-quality ready-made pastry but I think it is worth making your own.

Pop it in to the oven before sitting down to the main course and it will be ready 40 minutes later.

Happy cooking

Spanish-style Roast Chicken with Potato Wedges

Serves four to six

1 garlic bulb

4 tbsp Donegal Rapeseed oil

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp hot paprika

1 lemon, halved

1.8kg (3 3/4lb) whole chicken

2 fresh rosemary sprigs

675g (1 1/2lb) waxy potatoes, scrubbed and cut into wedges

500ml can Guinness

About 25g (1oz) butter, softened

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Steamed sprouting broccoli, to serve

1 Preheat the oven to 180oC (350oF/ gas mark four). Break the garlic bulb up into cloves and peel off the skin, then finely chop two of them. Put them into a small bowl with the olive oil, thyme and both paprika’s. Season with salt and pepper and mix until well combined to a thickish paste, adding a squeeze of lemon to loosen it out a bit. Rub half all over the chicken, inside and out and then cut the remaining lemon up into pieces and put into the cavity of the chicken with the rosemary and a few of the garlic cloves.

2 Put the potato wedges into a large roasting tin with the rest of the garlic cloves and drizzle over the rest of the paprika mixture, rubbing them with your hands until they are evenly coated.

3 Arrange in a single layer and sit the prepared chicken in the middle. Pour around the Guinness and smear the chicken with the butter. Put in the oven for 90 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the potato wedges are completely tender.

4 Leave the chicken to rest for 20 minutes, then chop into portions and arrange on warmed plates with some of the potato wedges, spooning over the juices from the roasting tin instead of gravy. Add some sprouting broccoli and serve at once.

Rustic Pear & Hazelnut Tart

Serves four to six

5 firm ripe pears

Juice of ½ lemon

1 heaped tbsp light muscovado sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp plain flour

50g skinned hazelnuts, roughly chopped

1 egg, beaten (to glaze)

For the pastry:

225g (8oz) plain flour, plus extra for dusting

Pinch of fine salt

150g (5oz) butter, chilled and diced

3 tbsp caster sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Icing sugar, to dust

Creme fraiche, to serve

1 To make the pastry, place the flour in a large bowl with the salt and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and then bring the pastry together with the egg (it may also need a tablespoon of cold water if it’s a little dry). Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill for at least half an hour or overnight is fine.

2 Preheat the oven to 180oC (350oF/ gas mark four) and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Peel, core and slice the pears and toss in the lemon juice. Put in a bowl and toss them with the brown sugar, cinnamon and flour.

3 On a lightly floured board, roll out the pastry to a rough circle, about 35cm (14in) in diameter and no more than 5mm (1/4in) thick. Carefully transfer to the prepared baking sheet and arrange the pears in the middle and scatter the hazelnuts on top, leaving a 7.5-10cm (3-4in) border. Using the sides of the parchment paper to help lift the pastry, fold the sides up and over the pears.

4 Brush with the beaten egg and then bake for 40 minutes or until cooked through and golden. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm with dollops of the creme fraiche.