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Recipe: Impossible Cheeseburger Pie
Fri, 20 May 2005

Sometimes I'm feeling a little peckish for something in particular, be it pasta or steak or pizza or just a fine sandwhich (the very best of which - like a Club House - will be called sammiches. I also suggest avoiding dishes that refer to themselves as 'gourmet' since that really just means pretend to like it when you really don't). But for me, once in awhile I get this urge to return to basics -- to fill up on a meal that harkens back to youth -- like mom used to make. And when you're a kid you don't go for fancy or complicated but simple things like peas and potatos which for me means Impossible Pie (or sometimes what I call Gray Stew, but thats for another article.) Recipe and terrible pictures below.

Impossible Cheeseburger Pie

This is a fun cheesy main course -- a little like a stewy ground beef with a crumbly cheese surface on top. The recipe below makes enough to stuff 2-3 people completely, or serve a family of 4-5 (I think) if you serve with vegetables (or vegetarians) or the like on the side. Its a little dry (but I like dry), but you can serve with ketchup or perhaps a cheese sauce or the like, but its just delicious on its own.

This is crazy easy to make, though since you need to brown meat and then cook it, it takes a good 45-60 minutes to prepare.

Do first: 1 pound ground beef
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt (I use Vegeta)
1/4 tsp pepper (I use 'Italian spice')
Then: 1 cup grated chedder cheese ('medium' is best)
Last: 1 1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup Bisquick baking mix
3 eggs

Pre-heat oven to 400deg fahrenheit. Lightly grease a 10inch rectangular pie plate (I usually fold up a paper towel, rub it in a tin of butter, and then mush the paper towel around the pie plate. Spray oil would likely work too.)

Brown the meat and onions: I usually fry up the onions for a few minutes (with water, never oil if you can avoid it, to reduce calories!) and then drop in the fresh ground beef. Break it up and fry away, stirring occasionally, until the meat is browned. Keep adding some water (it'll evaporate anyway, though you may worry it'll add a little boilish flavour - it doesn't.) Add some salt (or vegeta or the like) and pepper to taste.

Once the meat and onions are browned, pour the mixture into the greased pie plate and even it out across the surface with a spatula. Sprinkle all of the grated cheese across and it should nearly cover the meat -- you'll see through in a few spots here or there maybe, and thats okay. You can add enough cheese to cover it all up, but don't make it 'deep' with cheese since the cooking cheese will release a lot of oil and puff up, so you don't need much! Place the pie plate aside for a moment.

Mix up and beat the remaining ingrediants in a bowl -- the milk, Bisquick and eggs -- until smooth. You could use a hand blender or the like for just a few seconds (15?), or beat 'em good like I do by hand with a whisk for a good minute or so. You needn't work out all the Bisquick chunkies but don't leave any big ones in there.

Pour the sauce mixture over the pie plate, being sure to pour it all over evenly. (Start at one end and work your way across, then down, then back, say.) Don't be anal and just pour it all over as long as its more or less even.

Now pop the pie plate into the oven and let her sit for about 30 minutes. Don't cover it with aluminum foil because we want it to bake up on the top a bit. The cheese will keep the Bisquick from hardening, but the Bisquick will make it into a patty of sorts .. like a cheese pancake!

You'll know its done when you stick a knife into it and it comes out with just a bit of moisture on it. You can overcook and not worry .. if it starts to look a little dry on top of the browned cheese, its done. (ie: The cheese will puff up and brown 20 mins into it give or take, but its not done yet.. a few minutes more so it doesn't come out oily and squishy!)

In the oven just after it was put in:

Just removed the photo. I think I want to clean the stove before taking another photo with the light on :P

This is after we've devoured it. Apologies to my wife for putting such a nasty photo online (muahuahua!), and apologies to you the reader for seeing such terrible photos. My phone-camera is terrible :)


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