Thursday 18th October
Thought I'd make you hungry! Yep, this is yesterday's chicken, mid way through it's cooking!
Today though, today I have eaten like a god (yep, small G, it was only chicken soup!) I took all of the veg, and stock from around that roasting chicken, and popped it in the fridge - today, before I went to work, I sliced up an onion finely and fried it off, with a clove of garlic, in a dab of oil, and a good dash of boiling water. Now I'm sure there'll be those of you out there who will have picked up that off that rather odd dieting programme on Channel 4 - but let me tell you I've been doing this for years, largely because my oven runs hot, and onions tend to brown rapidly. When you want a truly translucent onion, add boiling water because it converts to steam instantly and speeds the cooking. Not to mention cutting down on the fat content.
Anyhow, to the onions I added finely diced carrots, a couple of bay leaves, a bouquet garni and a stock cube. When this had had about ten to fifteen minutes - when the veg were soft, I added a good cup full of well washed lentils - green lentils. I cooked this until most of the water was gone, and it was absolutely on the point of catching, before adding in all of the stock from the roasting tin - which had set to a jelly overnight in the fridge. Delish! I also added just a bit of the chicken meat, and water, and cooked it until I considered it was done - about an hour and twenty minutes or so. At that point, I added in the rest of the chicken meat which I had taken off the bone, and shredded. At that point, I was ready to go to work (a 2 - 9 shift today!) so I filled up a food flask that I have - wide necked, an excellent way to take liquid foods to work. I gave it two minutes in the microwave, and boy, come five pm, it was absolutely what I needed. And having just come home (about 9.30), I've had a second bowlful, but with the addition of some finely shredded cabbage - I layered it on top of the soup, so that it steamed whilst the soup heated - and it was fabulous. A really good meal. Chicken soup - you just can't beat it!
