Wednesday 6th Feburary

My but that steamed chicken was delicious last night. I had it with the boiled potato's I mentioned, but sweetcorn rather than leeks - I put the rest of the can into the mixture. Essentially, after the chicken had cooled, I skinned it, and took all the meat off the bone, and sieved the stock removing all of the 'bits' - I put most of the meat into the stock, along with the corn, and some beans, and the excess potato, diced, and then, covered with clingfilm, put it into the fridge overnight. One huge advantage of this, is that this morning, it had all set to a jelly. This makes taking off the fat a simple matter of skimming over the top with a spoon. This is a photo of the mixture whilst I was doing that.

It's quite a bland mixture at this point. Anyhow I added more beans - lovely red kidney beans, and borlotti beans, which have a meatiness and solidity to them that I love. Raw of course, they also have the most beautiful skins, but they loose that in the cooking, which is a huge shame.

Anyhow, I put a few spoonfuls into the pan, and heated it up this evening - I wanted to eat before the England game starts! - and whilst I was waiting for it to heat through thoroughally, I stoned a bowl full of cherries. I reckon this makes for just about a perfect meal for anyone tryiing to loose weight - virtually fat free soup, packed full of fibre, and fresh fruit. Who could ask for more?