‘I honestly didn’t realise how easy it was to keep the house clean before I had kids’, I said to Dad last week as I walked around Casa de Cooker pulling little socks out of the fruit bowl and hair ties off the floor. He smirked. This can be for one of two reasons:
- JC is basking in karma’s glow
- JC doesn’t class the state of Casa de Cooker as ‘clean’.
Our house is in a permanent state of disarray. When the girls’ toys aren’t on the floor, they’re shoved in a corner of each room. The Little Sister ensures that there is always a carrot stick secreted behind the cushions of the couch or between the glass panes of the sliding doors. Erroneous shoes are distributed throughout our dwelling. Lego lurks in dark corners; waiting to jump out and impale an unsuspecting bare foot during an important telephone call. When The Fuzz mistakenly arrived on our doorstep a few weeks ago, I panicked. Not because we’re running a backyard sly-grogging operation, but had they come inside they would have been compelled to start an investigation. Our home permanently displays ‘signs of a struggle’.
I’ve adopted a ‘near enough is good enough’ approach to lots of things lately. This new approach means I have a bit more time to do the things I like to do, and I don’t roar at the kids nearly as much. The Big Sister wears what she likes to kindy and the Little Sister sometimes gets away with eating the cucumber and leaving the skin.
My lower standards have even extended into the kitchen. Last week, I’d made the pie filling when I decided I’d rather read to the Little Sister than muck around with pastry, and the lazy pie was born.
lazy chicken peppercorn pie
Ingredients:
3 leeks (white section only), chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
30g butter
head of broccoli
500g chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
½ tbs green peppercorns
For the crumb:
30g butter
1 cup breadcrumbs
25g parmesan
Method:
In a heavy based pan, gently sauté the garlic and leeks in olive oil. Once translucent, remove the leeks and garlic from the pot, set aside and keep warm. Cut the broccoli into small florets and steam.
Add the butter and chicken thighs, to the pan and cook through. Remove the chicken and keep warm.
Add the green peppercorns to the pot and using the back of a spoon squash them gently. Saute gently for a few minutes, and then return the leeks, garlic, and chicken to the pan along with the steamed broccoli. Heat through.
For the crumb: use a food processor to blitz the breadcrumbs and parmesan together. Melt the butter in a small frypan and gently fry the breadcrumb parmesan mix.
Place the chicken peppercorn mix into a pie dish, top with the breadcrumb mix and bake in a 180C oven for 15 – 20 minutes. Et voila – cutting corners without missing out of on flavour.
This week, while lobbing toys in the general direction of the toy box I discovered this bit of Little Sister handiwork. It’s actually a pretty good analogy for the past few weeks here.
were you the baby or the biro this weekend?
is your house ready for impromptu visits from the police? what’s your secret?
Pretty much sums up life with kids. With a newborn we have lots of impromptu visitors – I tell myself they are here to see us, not a clean house. And lighting a lovely smelling candle always makes the place feel cleaner. Will have to try the pie!
ugh! I can totally relate!!!Charlotte is quite the tornado these days – and her favourite thing to do – ?? unpack!
OMG you just described my house / life! And there is always something better to do than “clean”!! I am going to try the pie!! yum yum!!
Lazy pie … Just love everything it represents. I think you should patent it!
I stopped giving as much of a fug after No.3 arrived – BLOODY Lego and Matchbox cars, nearly broke a hip a hundred times… and honestly most days I’m the baby!!
It seems that not very many biros read my blog Em! You’re in good company! 🙂
Definitely been the biro at Casa Eats World. Been so busy and the house is in such a mess… that lazy pie may just save my life.
Glad to be of service lovely! x
“Signs of a struggle”. I literally lolled. I don’t even have kids and my house is like that.
I want to make this pie now because leeks + garlic = heaven. Yummo.
Leeks + anything = heaven! 🙂
What a great recipe. I mean, unlike your other ones which are SHIT! HA HA HA I am so funny. Anyway at the moment I am the baby. And you need to see my house. That, my friend, is bad housekeeping in action.
Thanks for your gracious comment Sarah. I welcome all feedback that references excrement. x
I’m always happy to raise the tone
Welcome to my world 😉 Love this recipe though & definitely going to give it a crack.
Great Nee – keep me posted if you try it out?
I think the hubster feels like the baby at the moment, he’s having a really crap time at work. I wish I could be like the hairspray that erases the biro from the doll, and make it all better for him!
PS visiting from #teamIBOT xxx
Not really the point of this post, but what is that poo looking stuff on the babies leg? I feel quite traumatised for the poor thing! 😉
That pie looks fantastic… I didn’t know there were green peppercorns… I’m the baby, by the way… totally trashed by the kids in body if not soul!
I strangely found it easier to keep my house clean when my kids were little. Now when they should know better, they leave trails of cups, plates, shoes, socks, random clothing, uniforms, bags, homework, etc in their wake. The boy’s bathroom vanity is a contstant display of lidless hair product, Lynx cans, razors, shaving cream and toothpaste… At least now I can roar like a lion and threaten loss of electronics and wifi to spring them (at a sloth’s pace) into action.
I love the idea of lazy recipes of any form – if it’s easy for me, then the kids and the man of the house will be able to cook it too!
PS how do you store leftover green peppercorns?
It’s like you can see inside our house Tracey (minus the lynx,shaving cream and razors!)
I keep the leftover green peppercorns in a small jar in the fridge – they’re hand to have for making peppercorn sauce for steak etc. http://www.cookerandalooker.com/peppercorn-sauce/
A x