Put MasterChef to the back of your mind when you’re cooking up family feasts, says judge John Torode, who gives Keeley Bolger a homely cookery masterclass

'What are you like in the kitchen?" asks MasterChef's John Torode at the beginning of our cookery masterclass. "I'm okay," I grunt, a mental carousel of burnt biscuits, teeth-extracting pork joints and soggy bottoms whirling to mind.

"Did anyone tell you that you had to be brilliant at cooking?" despairs the 50-year-old, with a world-weary sigh.

"People forget that their friends love them. They come around to your house for dinner not because they want you to show off to them. They come round your house for dinner because they love you."

Evidently, I'm not the only one to feel coy about my cooking skills (or lack of) because Torode's new cookery tome My Kind Of Food explores just that.

A deeply personal collection of recipes (complete with pictures and cards made by his four children proudly placed alongside the acknowledgements), the emphasis is on getting us back in the kitchen and having some fun there. And if that means using shop-bought condiments, so be it.

"You don't make your own vinegar," he reasons. "You don't make your own honey."

Correct, John. So after starting off with banana bread ("Everybody in Australia has banana bread"), we move swiftly on to Pesto and Tomato Tarts and Pesto and Pods, made with peas.

"Look, here are the escape-peas," says the MasterChef judge, pointing at a few rogue frozen peas.

While the tarts are in the oven, the surfaces are wiped down (the Aussie chef is very much a mucker-inner) and the dad-style puns flow, Torode receives an unexpected delivery of flowers to celebrate the launch of his book.

"I know who those are from... my lovely girl," he smiles. A check of the card and a quick phone call confirms they are indeed from Torode's "lovely" girlfriend Lisa Faulkner.

The two met back in 2010 when actress and now cook Faulkner won Celebrity MasterChef. After a few years of friendship, they fell in love.

"I think the prospect of Lisa and me doing a cookery show together is very slim," he says.

Meanwhile, if you fancy trying some of Torode's delicious dishes, here are three from My Kind Of Food...

Roast chicken with creme fraiche, new potatoes and watercress

(Serves 6)

1 large chicken, about 1.5kg

200g creme fraiche

1/2 lemon

4tsp vegetable oil

500g new potatoes

100g watercress

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1tsp mustard (optional)

Heat the oven to 200C/gas 6. Season the inside of the chicken with salt and pepper, then spoon the creme fraiche into the cavity. Plug the end of the chicken with the lemon half. Rub the chicken with some of the oil, season well and then place in a roasting tin, breast up.

Roll the potatoes in the remaining oil and then scatter around the chicken. Place the chicken in the oven and roast for one hour 10 minutes without opening the oven door. Leave it.

Pick the largest stems off the watercress and put the lot into a large bowl filled with cold water. Push the watercress under the water and place the bowl in the fridge. The clean watercress will float to the top while all the dirt will sink to the bottom.

Take the chicken out of the oven. Pour the creme fraiche out of the chicken over the potatoes in the tin, then turn the chicken upside down onto a board and leave it to sit for 10 minutes so that all the juices flow back into the breast. It will be done.

Meanwhile, place the tin over a medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring the potatoes around the tin so all the lovely sticky bits come off the sides and make the sauce. Take it off the heat.

Lift the watercress out of the bowl and shake off the excess water. Put the chicken and potatoes onto a large platter, scatter over the watercress and pour yourself a congratulatory vat of wine.

Add a spoonful of mustard for a bit of spice in the creme fraiche.

Sticky orange polenta cake

(Makes 1 cake)

2 Seville oranges

2 lemons

180g blanched almonds

4 eggs

Big pinch of salt

170g caster sugar

80ml olive oil, plus extra for greasing

150g polenta

10g baking powder

For the syrup:

Juice of 2-3 Seville oranges (about 150ml)

75g caster sugar

Heat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Grease a 23cm springform cake tin.

Put one orange and one lemon into a large pan, cover with water, and place a circle of greaseproof paper over the top so the fruit sits under the water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Take off the heat.

Toast the blanched almonds in a dry frying pan. Put them in a food processor and blitz until finely ground. Set aside.

Take the cooked orange and lemon out of the pan. Cut them in half and pick out the seeds. Juice the other fresh orange and lemon (throw away the shells). Put the cooked fruit (skins and all) and extra freshly squeezed juice in the food processor and blend to make a paste.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the salt until foaming. Add the sugar and beat again, then add the orange paste, almonds and olive oil. Beat again.

In a separate bowl, mix the polenta and baking powder, then gently fold this into the orange mixture until it is all mixed together.

Pour the mixture into the greased tin and bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Meanwhile, make the syrup. Put the orange juice and sugar in a pan and simmer over a low heat until you have a glossy syrup.

Turn the cake out of the tin onto a serving plate and pour the syrup over it while it's warm.

n My Kind Of Food by John Torode (Headline, £25)