Inspired by a recipe in a 1983 Bisquick cookbook this recipe can be done any number of ways and is truly amazing for the ease with which you can make a crust and perfect bake for savoury or sweet pies.
One of the great things about vintage cookbooks is that you can encounter recipes that might never have occurred to you and that -- either straight-up or with some tinkering -- can turn out to be lost or hidden gems.
This recipe is a case in point. The inspiration for it comes from the 1983 brand based cookbook The Best of Bisquick from Betty Crocker. Like all brand based cookbooks the idea is to get you to use their product in cooking.
Here the product is Bisquick which is a pre-mixed baking mix meant to make baking easier.
In the cookbook they have a very large section of what they call "Impossible Pies". These are basically quiche like savoury or sweet pies that are made by mixing the Bisquick mix with milk and eggs and then pouring this mixture into/over a variety of ingredients in a pie plate. The claim was that this would result in a pie with a crust and that it would be very versatile and easy.
I was intrigued though I had my doubts.
I used the $1.00 Bisquick buttermilk biscuit packet that is available at Dollarama stores in Canada and fused two of the recipes together, though, as I will come back to, you can do any number of variations on this.
Mine was vegetarian, savoury and a bit spicy and it was absolutely terrific. I am a believer now! This really is an "impossibly" easy way to make a great dish.
These are the two recipes that I worked with:
Here is my take.
Ingredients:
10 ounces (approximately) fresh baby spinach
10-15 sliced mushrooms
1 fresh jalapeno unseeded and diced (use half a jalapeno if you want it a little less spicy)
1/4 cup of leek diced
handful of garlic chive or green onion (or both) diced
2 1/2 cups grated old cheddar
2 cups milk
4 eggs
1 cup Bisquick baking mix (or Bisquick buttermilk biscuit mix)
garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
Grease a 10 inch pie plate with olive oil.
In a separate saucepan heat some olive oil to medium high. Toss in the mushrooms, leeks, jalapeno and garlic chive/green onion, season liberally with garlic powder and to taste with salt and pepper, and sauté for around 5 minutes.
Place the baby spinach in the greased plate, add the sautéed mushrooms, leeks, jalapeno and garlic chive and toss. Then top with the cheese.
In large bowl combine the Bisquick, milk and eggs. Blend thoroughly in a blender for approximately 15 seconds or by hand for around a minute until smooth.
Pour this mixture over all the ingredients in the pie plate. You do not need to stir or mix.
Place in an oven heated to 425 and bake for around 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean. When done let rest for at least 5 minutes for everything to set.
This pie is simply terrific. It creates a light, tasty crust.
You can also do any number of variations. The cookbook had several:
You could use various leftovers like roasted chicken or sliced beef. Leftover ground beef taco mix or chili with a variety of ingredients could be used. Canned tuna or salmon, fresh or frozen shrimp, etc.
Once you have the basic idea down the variations are basically endless.
Fun, tasty and easy this is my kind of recipe.
Enjoy.