It may have been said before, very possibly by me – here, but there is no greater pleasure for the home cook than spending half an hour or so picking over half a roast chicken left over from Sunday so as to separate out every last bit every last bit of good edible meat from the carcass. If the home cook is going to really indulgent he or she can suck at some of the bones before they go in the pot marked for stock.

That is how I spent some time earlier this evening before assembling a meal for the children.

I started with a bag of young spinach which was mixed with sliced onions and tomatoes.

I then toasted some pitta bread. They were started off in the toaster until puffed up and ready to be split. Once split they were laid out under a hot grill with a smattering of olive oil.

As they continued to toast I made a dressing with olive oil, pomegranate syrup, good vinegar, a dash of sugar, cinnamon and sumac.

Pieces of chicken were scattered over the spinach leaves, the toasted pitta was crushed and scattered over the chicken and the dressing was smeared liberally over it all.

I expected complaints but to my surprise it was attached with gusto and enthusiasm.

It was almost as good as the steak sandwich that was reconstructed last night.