chicken pie with feta and mushrooms

I was really craving something savory with phyllo dough this weekend, but I didn't want to make Moroccan chicken pie. I just wasn't in the mood for all the chopping and prep that goes with it, and I had other stuff to do. I started out with a spanikopita recipe, but wanted to add chicken to make it a main dish. And I don't like cooked spinach, so that had to be replaced with something. In the end I wound up just kind of winging it, and I was pleased with the results.

This made 2 whole pies (luckily the disposable ones come in a 3-pack), so you could halve the recipe for just a single pie.

Sorry for the blurry picture, my camera batteries were dying.

Bake 4 chicken breasts and cut into small pieces, about 1/2" square. Set aside.

Finely chop a yellow onion and sauté in olive oil until golden. Add 3 crushed garlic cloves and saute for another minute, then add 8 oz. sliced cremini mushrooms* and sauté until soft. Add a tbsp. of chopped dill** and mix it in, then remove from heat.

Mix the onion/mushroom mixture in a large bowl with the chicken pieces, then add a couple handfulls of crumbled feta cheese. Beat 4 eggs together and add them to chicken mixture.

Melt 1/4 cup of unsalted butter with 2 tbsp. olive oil and brush a pie tin well with it. Put in a sheet of phyllo dough, brush the dough, add another sheet, brush again, repeat with 5 sheets of dough total. Add half the chicken mixture, then top with another 5 sheets of brushed dough. Don't brush the top sheet. Tuck any hanging dough under.

Do the same thing with another pie tin and the rest of the chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until the top is a deep golden brown. If you're going to have left-overs, take it out closer to 50 minutes, that way you can reheat it in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes. Microwaving it isn't as good because your dough will be soggy, not crisp.

The 4 eggs make this almost more like a quiche in texture than a pie. You could probably halve the eggs if you want it to be less eggy. Also I think the next time I make this I'm going to add some crushed nuts, cashews or hazelnuts. That would be yummy. You could use any kind of cheese.

*Cremini mushrooms are immature portobello mushrooms and are sometimes labelled "baby bellas" in supermarkets.

**Admission: I usually use Gourmet Garden refrigerated herb paste instead of fresh herbs. It's just too wasteful to buy them; you have to buy a huge bunch for 1 lousy tablespoon, and since I only cook once a week they never keep.