Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Garden Pie

This is one of those recipes that happened out of lazy desperation. I had a handful of vegetables that I picked from the garden and was craving a frittata but don’t have an ovenproof skillet at the moment. Pizza was an option, but with the kids finally home and exhausted from camp, I wasn’t about to pile them into the car and run out of the house for pre-made dough. Furthermore, I have yeastophobia. (a.k.a. fear of cooking with yeast.) I did have a pre-made pie crust in the freezer, and thought about making a quiche, but the last time I tried to thaw one on a hot humid day, it ended up sticking to itself and becoming a greasy blob and I’m definitely not one of those baking mavens who can pull a pie crust together in 10 minutes. Hence:

1) Preheat oven to 350.

2) Spray bottom of a baking dish with cooking spray or coat with oil. Cover the bottom of the dish with bread. Any kind of bread will work – day old would be great. (I used day old semolina, but you could also use any kind of sliced sandwich bread, sliced roll, even burger or hot dog buns.)

3) Beat about 6 eggs with a whisk or hand blender until well mixed. Pour over bread.

4) While the eggs are soaking into the bread, saute vegetables such as garlic, onion, zucchini and pepper in olive oil over medium high heat until edges begin to brown. Add your choice of fresh herbs if you have them.

While they’re cooking slice a tomato thinly and spread the slices out on top of the bread.

Add the vegetable mixture to the top.






5) Cover with a cup of your favorite cheese.









6) Bake for about 40 minutes or until eggs are set and cheese is bubbly.

Let it set and cool for a few minutes before cutting, then serve like deep dish pizza. You can even call it pizza if that will help your kids eat it.

As you can see, the cheese can be omitted from sections of the pie if, like me, you have a family member who won’t eat cheese. (I know! Who could have spawned him??!)


I have a new blog design- hope it's not confusing anyone. The header is gift from my husband who is a graphic designer. One cool thing about it is that I can switch the photos out of the letters and replace them with new ones when I get tired of these! I changed to a lighter background color because I read that they're easier to read.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sometimes the best dishes come on the spur of the moment.

And I like the new look! very funky header! (and brighter is easier for my aging eyes)

w

mayberry said...

LOVE the design! It's fantastic. (And the recipe sounds delish too.)

Lzyjo said...

A love your new banner!! It's so clever that you can change the photos!!! I also I am in love with your doggies nickname of the week. Hopper's is Houndalini.

tina said...

I noticed the change right away. Looks great!

The food looks delish too. I know I'll be trying it out-anything with cheese and eggs has to be good!

June said...

Love the new design! And it's great to see a dish created in the moment, yum!

tut-tut said...

That sounds quite delicious. How are doings in Nyack? Nice to be able to link through Facebook. Maybe I should do this, too.

I like the postcard look of the banner.

PamHMG said...

The most awesome thing about the new header is the letter C - it's a Japanese beetle. How funny!

Pam J. said...

I love the new design! Kudos to the hubby. And the pie sounds heavenly. I'll be serving that up soon. Yeast phobia huh? I think you've mentioned this before. Soooo curious. I'm very interested in phobias and aversions and all that stuff. A few years ago my sister and I discovered, after lo these many years, that we share a curious one: when we work with lettuce, especially a big head of lettuce like iceberg (I haven't actually bought a head of iceberg lettuce in years but in the old days...), our nostrils flare out. Almost like we're having an involuntary reaction to a bad smell. But there is no smell. So maybe it's an aversion to the feel of lettuce? Or the texture? Is your aversion related to smell or just the idea that yeast is, you know, alive?

Bangchik and Kakdah said...

Interesting header.... and he is good at it. The recipe sounds delicious!
~bangchik

Lorilee said...

MMM Looks yummy! I love your new web design.
Blessings,
Lorilee

michele said...

I like the design. We are trying the garden pie for dinner. Now, I just wish I had my own vegetable garden. I may have to enlist my dad for help with that some day!

JGH said...

Thanks, W - I have trouble reading the tiny letters myself sometimes, so I'm glad the light background helps.

Thanks Mayberry!

Liz - Houdalini! LOL - good one. Do you have others?

Tina - thanks. I'm a big fan of the the one-dish meal.

June - "in the moment" is pretty much how it happened. Supposedly there's a place on the web where you can enter the ingredients you have on hand and it will come up with a recipe for you. I need to find that!

Tut, very easy to link the blog to the Facebook page with the SHARE button.

Pam - I do love the look of the Japanese beetles! Just not what they do to my plants.

Pam J - It's not really the yeast that I have phobia of - it's of failure. For some reason, my yeast creations never rise properly. I end up with heavy solid loaves. Every few years I decide to give it another go - and fail again. I'm working my way up to my 27th failure....

Bangchik - Thanks for visiting. Do try the recipe - easy way to use veggies.

Lorilee, thanks. You have such a cute background on your blog. I was looking for something like that and may still add it.

Michelle - there are lots of good books that could help you get started. I like Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening, and also Lasagna Gardening for setting up beds. Of course your dad would be an incredible help, I would think!