Soul food: John Williams on his mother's roast dinners I grew up in South Shields in a family of six. Dad was a trawlerman and Mum looked after us. She was a very simple cook, but the smell of her roast lamb and fresh mint sauce for Sunday lunch was the highlight of our week. On Sundays I used to play football in the back, and at about 11am Mum would shout me in to help her make lunch. I think she picked me because I was quite domesticated, and probably the greediest! She'd get me to chop the mint and put it in a cup with sugar, salt and vinegar and a touch of boiling water. Then she would put it in the oven inside a bowl of water, to heat up a bit. I remember scraping the Jersey Royals, and she'd give me three big ones with melted butter as a treat. My team at The Ritz will tell you that, during the Jerseys season, I still like a couple in butter before service. In July, when the rhubarb was out, Mum would make a shortcrust-pastry "plate pie" using a standard dinner plate, with lots of sugar and a bit of powdered ginger - served with custard, of course. I still serve rhubarb with ginger, but poached with star anise and cardamom and with a cardamom cremet - a just-set cream. For me cooking seasonally, as my mum did, is the most important thing.