Not so impossible!
Aren’t you always looking for a new recipe to try out on company? Whether they are family or friends, this is easy and won’t have you up before dawn preparing this yummy treat.
I can just look at the picture above and it gets my mouth-watering. The taste of the melty cheese, the onions and the tiny pieces of ham is what your dreams will be made of when you preparing your breakfast menus for the weekend. Top the impossible pie with some salsa for an extra tang and you have a great breakfast dish.
This recipe can be changed up so many ways; try different cheeses, serve it for brunch, lunch or “breakfast for dinner”, add some jalapeños to the filling. I changed the flour to a King Arthur Gluten Free blend and could not tell it was not made with “real” flour. So, if there are any of you eating gluten-free because you have to or because you want to, try substituting a GF blend; you will be amazed at the results. (A few weeks ago, my grandson, Milo asked me “Gran do you eat gluten-free things because you want to or because you have to?”) The answer is I don’t have to but when I can substitute something gluten-free as the flour in this recipe, I will give it a try.
The Impossible Pie appeared first back in 1968 and was popularized by General Mills and General Foods to help promote their products in making this pie. There are sweet versions and savory version. Just Google “Impossible Pie” and you will be amazed at the different recipes that will come up.
Recently on Cook’s Illustrated show on PBS they were doing an updated version they felt they could improve upon. Who wouldn’t want to make a Quiche like pie that you did not have to labor over making and rolling out a pie crust. I love watching Cook’s Illustrated or reading their magazine on my iPad and also their show American’s Test Kitchen on PBS. They do all the experimenting with recipes and with trial and error come up with wonderful results.
BLAST FROM THE PAST: Fried Avocado with Egg is another great little breakfast item. You can make fried avocado slices to surround the egg if you want instead of the whole thing.
The first step is to butter a pie plate and then sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and tilt the dish to make sure the cheese covers the bottom and sides of pie plate.
Chop up your deli ham. Or, you could use cooked sausage or fried bacon or just throw in some veggies.
Mix the cheese, ham and green onions together then scripture this over the bottom of the pie plate.
Mix all the dry ingredients together.
Beat the eggs and milk and nutmeg together and then whisk in the half-and-half.
Pour the liquid mixture over the cheese/ham. Make sure it covers the whole pie plate.
I served with a little salsa and some grapefruit slices. Yum!
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened, plus 2 tablespoons melted
- 3 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese (use a rasp style grate
- 8 ouncesr) Gruyere cheese, shredded (2 cups)
- 4 ounces thickly sliced deli ham, chopped
- 4 scallions, minced (I’ve since learned scallions are the same as green onions!!!)
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup half-and-half
- 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9-inch pie quiche plate with softened butter, then coat plate evenly with Parmesan.
- Combine Gruyere, ham and scallions in a bowl. Sprinkle cheese-and-ham mixture evenly in bottom of prepared pie dish. Combine flour, baking powder, pepper and salt in now empty bowl. Whisk in half-and-half, eggs, melted butter, mustard and nutmeg until smooth. Slowly pour batter over cheese-and-ham mixture in pie quiche dish.
- Bake until pie quiche is light golden brown and filling is set, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool on wire rack for 15 minutes. Slice into wedges. Serve warm.
- Serves 8
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