9/01/2009

Impossible Chicken 'n Vegetable Pie



This is actually about Impossible Pie, but I couldn't resist putting up that photo, taken my daughter, Sunny.

To begin with, I was going to make quiche with a bit of left-over chicken from two nights before and, I'm ashamed to admit, had none of those lovely frozen Whole Foods type pie crusts left in my freezer.  Well, we all (almost all) know what Michael Pollan would have to say about such heresy.  So, I'm not perfect.  Then,  I remembered a famous Bisquick invention from our distant past - Impossible Pies. And, piling heresy upon heresy, as there was some baking mix??! in the fridge....
Should I mention, that baking mix was bought, thanks to Nancy and her recipe for Southern Cobbler? Which I still need to make. Thanks Nancy.

Back to Impossible Pies.  The fabulous thing is, you can use whatever happens to be on hand.  I had half of one red bell pepper, a handful of green beans, some left-over bbq'd chicken, as mentioned, and the last of that wonderful feta, recently made.

I had forgotten how good those pies can be, and this was no exception.  Fast too.  Everything gets dumped into the pie pan, into the oven, and there it is.  Almost instant quiche.

Impossible Chicken 'n Vegetable Pie

Ingredients
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup chopped shitake mushrooms
1 cup green beans, chopped
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup feta or ricotta
1 1/2 cups cut-up cooked chicken
1 1/3 cups milk
3 eggs
3/4 cup baking mix ** see note below
3/4 teas. salt & 1/4 teas. pepper, minced parsley or basil

Heat oven to 400 F; butter your 10x1 1/2" pie plate.  Rinse, dry & chop the vegetables. Feel free to use what you have available.  Cut up the chicken and distribute evenly in the pie plate with vegetables.  Grate cheese, crumbling the feta or ricotta and sprinkle over the top. Beat eggs, milk and baking mix til smooth with wire whip (or15 seconds in blender). Pour over the ingredients in pie plate.

Bake 25-35 minutes or until knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes or so.
6-8 servings
**  Note - I should mention, if you are out of Bisquick, or don't want to use it, a good substitution for 1 cup of baking mix is:
1 Cup flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teas. salt and add for each cup 1 tablespoon melted butter when you make a recipe.
Very satisfying, served with a small salad and some fresh bread.  Don't know why I've overlooked this for so long.

4 comments:

Sunny said...

mmmmm looks delicious. YOU used a bought pie crust...I am glad I was sitting down when I read that.

Claudia said...

Oooooh, the sarcasm. But, they're impossibly quick and easy. Plus, less than 5 ingredients.

Deb in Hawaii said...

Looks delicious! Very homey and good!

BTW: I just posted the winner at Cook the Books--I think you will want to take a look. ;-)

Aloha,

Deb

Anonymous said...

Perfection is overrated! LOL It looks as if your decision was a good one.

This sounds great - I'll have to try it. As our weather gets cooler here I start to crave warm savoury pies.