Phyllo Chicken Spinach Pie

This evening I made a new recipe that I found in the Publix flyer.  It was kinda sorta like Greek Spanikopita, but not really, because it had chicken in it.  But it was a similar type of dish in the fact that it had layers of phyllo pastry on both the bottom and the top and the filling was made with shredded chicken, spinach, feta cheese and some other seasonings.  It was good, but I must admit I still prefer Spanikopita made the traditional and authentic way...without any meat!  Young son had dinner with us and he even had seconds...so it must have been pretty good.

It was pretty simple to make and I tweaked it ever so slightly.  I doubled the recipe because the original recipe called to make it in a 9x9 pan which I thought was absolutely ridiculous...the phyllo sheets you buy fit perfectly in a 9x13 pan, so there is no cutting folding, trimming, etc.  I've included a few photos below as well as the ever so slightly modified recipe.  Enjoy!

The basic ingredients...shredded rotisserie chicken breast, spinach, feta cheese and phyllo pastry dough

Fresh out of the oven

Here's another shot

Voila!

Here's a closer look

Check out those flaky layers

BOOM!

BOOM! BOOM!

Phyllo Chicken Spinach Pie

Ingredients:
20 sheets frozen phyllo dough (1 roll - each box comes with 2 individually wrapped rolls of 20)
Zest & juice of 1 lemon
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely chopped (sauteed until translucent)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (sauteed with the onion until tender)
Deli rotisserie chicken, shredded, about 3-4 cups (or shredded cooked chicken
2 "9 to 11 oz" packages frozen creamed spinach 
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 oz crumbled feta cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Prep:

• Remove phyllo from freezer; thaw for 1 hour (or overnight in refrigerator).
• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Zest/grate lemon peel (no white; 2 teaspoons); squeeze lemon for juice (2 tablespoons).
• Chop onion and garlic; saute in olive oil until tender. Shred chicken with two forks.

Steps:

1. Microwave spinach on HIGH for 2–3 minutes or until thawed. Microwave butter on HIGH for 20–30 seconds or until melted.
2. Coat 9x13-inch rectangular baking dish or pan lightly with melted butter. Place one phyllo sheet in dish, brush lightly with butter. Repeat layer and butter for each side of dish (for total of 10 layers).
3. Combine remaining ingredients (chicken, spinach, feta, onion & garlic, lemon zest & juice, dill and black pepper); spread mixture evenly over phyllo.  Continue layering and brushing each of the remaining 10 sheets of phyllo with butter  until the remaining sheets are finished.  Bake at 400 degrees approximately 30 minutes or until golden (I had to cut the oven back to 375 half way through the cooking to the phyllo pastry did not burn or get too dark, so check yours after about 15 minutes). Let stand 5-10 minutes. Serve. (Makes 8-10 servings).

***    Note: Each box of phyllo pastry has 2 rolls of phyllo sheets (approximately 20 sheets in each roll).  I just took 1 roll out to thaw for this recipe and have the rest in the freezer to use for another dish.