The Best Greek Chicken Pie by Rick Stein
This sensational Greek chicken pie was discovered by Rick Stein in a mountain village in the Zagori region of Greece. It has become one of the most popular chicken pie recipes in the world and it is the most popular chicken recipe on Chef’s Pencil.
Let’s hear what Rick Stein had to say about this recipe in his own words.
The Greeks love their pies almost as much as we or the Aussies do, but theirs are made by building up thin sheets of filo pastry. This Greek chicken pie was sensational, made by a mother-and-daughter team, Iro and Virginia Papapostolu, in the village of Aspraggeli in the region of Zagori, a mountainous part of Epirus.
The pie is made from a whole chicken. The chicken and onions are first poached, and the liquid then reduced to a gelatinous sauce. It is the sweetness of the onions that really counts here.
The Best Greek Chicken Pie by Rick Stein
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 kg onions
- 30 gr butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 whole chicken
- 3 eggs
- black pepper
- 6 sheets filo pastry
Instructions
How to Make the Greek Chicken Pie By Rick Stein
- Put the onions, butter and olive oil into a large pan or stockpot with a lid, add the whole chicken and pour in enough water so the bird is almost submerged.
- Cover with the lid, bring the water up to the boil, then turn down to barely a simmer and poach the chicken for about 1½ hours.
- When the chicken is cooked, remove from the pan and strain the cooking liquid into another pan, keeping the onions to return to the dish later.
- Boil the liquid hard to reduce to a tasty gelatinous stock.
- Allow the chicken to cool before stripping all the meat off the carcass, discarding the bones and skin.
- Put the chicken and the reserved onions into a large bowl and mix well.
- Add the eggs and chicken stock and season with the salt and some pepper.
- Heat the oven to 230°C/gas 8/ 446° F.
- Grease a round pie dish with olive oil.
- Line the dish with 3 sheets of filo, alternating direction each time and brushing each layer with a little olive oil.
- Add the chicken mixture and fold the overhanging edges in.
- Top with a further 3 layers of filo, again placed at different angles to one another.
- Fold in the overhanging edges to seal the pie and brush all over with more olive oil.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, reduce the heat to 200°C/gas 6/392° F , cut the pie into 6 or 8 wedges, then bake for a further 45 minutes.
- Allow to rest for 10–20 minutes, then serve, still warm.
Notes
Hi Rick, the simplicity of this Chicken pie sounds amazing. Greeks love to use all parts of a carcuss, so the the skin is it discarded as it’s had no herbs or rub on, and with the boil the gelatine has been released into the ‘stock’
Can’t wait to make your chicken pie.
Am a fan and have your fish recipe book. Miss you on telly.