During the first week of the school holidays my daughter requested two pies. The first was a repeat performance of the apple crumble pie (she'd missed out the first time around) earlier in the week. For Friday dinner she also requested a savoury pie. I knew I wouldn't have too much time and energy to make this second pie so I went with something simpler. This recipe is from Tanya Walford via the ABC website. "This pie recipe is a favourite and a staple in our home. It is as much about the spinach and cheese as it is the chicken." I varied the recipe slightly as I didn't want the chicken to cool (I knew I'd be freezing a couple of the pies for later reheating).The recipe makes four pies.
Ingredients
- 1 chicken breast fillet, cubed into 2cm pieces
- 6 button mushrooms, sliced
- 1 chopped brown onion
- 1 crushed clove garlic
- 1 small zucchini, grated
- 100g fetta
- 75g fresh ricotta
- 100g baby spinach chopped up
- Grated zest of one lemon
- 1 tsp of dried oregano flakes
- 2 tbsp grated parmesan
- Salt and pepper
- 1 egg - beaten
- 1 lot of rough puff pastry (250g flour, 125g butter)
The original recipe had frozen 125g spinach and instructions about removing the moisture and... I just went with a packet of fresh baby spinach and chopped it up. Worked fine.
Also, I added a chorizo to the mix, but this turned out to be completely unnecessary and I'll skip it next time.
Method
- Prepare the pastry an hour or more beforehand and chill in the fridge.
- Preheat oven to 200ºC, or 180 fan forced.
- Heat some olive oil and saute onion and garlic until softened but not coloured.
- Add chicken cubes and mushroom and season. Sprinkle a little (1 tbsp) flour over the lot when it's about cooked and stir that through to soak up the juices. When the chicken is cooked through, set aside.
- In a separate bowl, crumble in fetta and ricotta, parmesan, lemon zest, oregano, spinach and zucchini. Using hands mix thoroughly and season with salt and pepper.
- Mix the chicken etc and add into the cheese mixture. Stir well until combined.
- Cut your pastry into 4 pieces. Roll each out into a square (roughly 15cm sides). Place a couple on your baking tray, rotated so they're diamonds (oriented so they won't fight with the other pies when folded). Plonk some filling in the centre, brush the edges with the egg and fold opposite corners into the middle, pinching the seams together well but keeping a hole in the middle for hot steam to escape. Repeat with the other two pieces. Finish all the filling - or freeze a batch for another day.
- Brush each pie with egg and bake in the oven for approximately 30-40 mins or until the pies are puffed and browned.
