Growing up, our family Sunday roast was often a crispy roast chicken with potatoes, slowly cooked alongside the meat in all the delicious juices. This pot roast chicken is simply an extension of this, which I now cook any day of the week – with the lid on, ensuring all the delicious flavours are infused in a tender, juicy chicken. Once you’ve done the browning, you can leave this to cook all on its own – it’s the easiest supper you’ll ever make!

Here’s what goes in:

• 1 whole chicken
• 2 onions, thickly sliced
• 4 carrots, thickly sliced
• 6 potatoes, peeled and quartered (or baby potatoes)
• 500g diced butternut
• 250g sliced courgettes or broccoli (or just a few for colour)
• A couple of sprigs of thyme, or other fresh herbs of choice
• Olive oil
• Salt and chicken seasoning

How to do it:

Before you begin, you will need an oven-proof pot with a lid. I get the best results using a Le Creuset pot, so cast iron is ideal, but you can use Pyrex, Corning Ware or any other. Preheat your oven to 180°C.

Cut the onions into thick slices and lay them on the bottom of the pot with a few good lugs of olive oil. Place the chicken on top of the onion and season the chicken generously. Pop it into the oven for 20 minutes, allowing the chicken to brown and crisp up a bit.

In the meantime, peel and cut the potatoes, carrots, and butternut. Add them to the pot, scattering them around the chicken, once it has browned. Add the herbs and drizzle a little more olive oil over the vegetables and season them with salt.

With the lid now on, return the pot to the oven, turning the temperature down to 160°C. After 15 to 20 minutes, stir the vegetables around to ensure that they are coated in a bit of oil and are not sticking to the sides of the pot.

After that, you can leave the pot roast to cook for a further hour and a half to two hours. If you plan to add green vegetables, do this just 15 minutes before the end, so as not to over-cook them.

Once the chicken has been carved, return all the meat to the pot and serve with the flavourful “jus” and vegetables. The potatoes should melt in your mouth!