Kotopita

Kotopita, variously spelled and -- I imagine -- variously pronounced, is a Greek dish sometimes called Greek chicken pie or chicken phyllo pie. Think chicken pot pie but with fine buttered layers of phyllo instead of biscuits or piecrust on top, and that will give you an idea. Tom made it for dinner tonight and it was delicious. Helen's late father was Greek, and I think she is the one who taught Tom to cook spanakopita, spinach pie, which is one of his specialties when we have guests. He has a couple of Greek cookbooks and they both survived the great book purge when we moved. This was his first attempt of kotopita, and as usual, he did well.

Unlike me, he is not afraid of recipes that have many steps and a lot of ingredients. This one called for fifteen ingredients, which is perhaps not too bad since many were spices. The filling is made with chicken, onions, eggs and fresh dill. Tom thinks he may add a little spinach next time and use more pepper. He also thinks it could use a bit of feta. His cookbook did not call for it, but I see online that some recipes use feta and a bit of Parmesan as well. The dill gives it a nice punch even without the cheeses, though.