Kotopita (chicken pita)

Pita is the most versatile food in the Greek kitchen. Most of the time it can be made from leftovers, as they were originally. They took on the more refined character with the influx of the Greeks from Asian Minor and Ponto.
This Kotopita is truly a left over dish. I had left over chicken from another meal and frozen pastry and herbs and spices.

I normally make my own pastry but every now and then it’s okay to use frozen pastry and I always keep a packet in the freezer for moments like this.
Anything in the fridge will do, as long as the flavours compliment each other and don’t clash. I have a rule when I make pita on the run, I keep it as simple as possible. This prevents making combination blunders.
All pita fillings can be made into small bourekia, pitakia, in triangles, squares, cannolli shapes and any other small version. These make great finger food.

Ingredients

2 breasts of cooked chicken (or any other part if you so prefer), cut into very small pieces
1 onion, chopped very fine
1 / 2 bunch of dill, finely cut
1 / 2 bunch parsley, finely cut
1 / 2 cup grated kefalograviera
1 / 2 cup crumbled feta
1 / 2 cup olive oil
1 1 / 2 teaspoons cumin powder
1 teaspoon pepper
1 / 2 teaspoon of salt (taste as the feta can make it salty enough)
1 beaten egg for brushing the top of the pita

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190.

2. In a deep frypan, heat the oil and saute the onion.

3. Add the chicken, parsley, dill and all the condiments.

4. Take off the heat and add the cheese, mix and set aside.

5. Roll out the pastry and cover the bottom of an oiled pita pan.

6. Spread the mixture out evenly, it is a fine layer of filling that makes the pita into a fancy sandwich when you cut the slices.

7. Roll out the top layer of pastry and lay on top of the filling.

8. Trim the edge of the pastry and tuck the ends inside.

9. Prick the top with a fork in about four places and brush with the egg.

10. Bake for about 45 minutes till golden brown. Allow to cool.

Note: Pastry can be either frozen or homemade; this quantity makes a small pita in a 22 cm shallow tart dish. I like to roll mine out more to make it very fine and if I need a large piece to cover a more traditional Pita pan, I roll each layer out, lay it out in the pan, wet the edges and then stick the other piece together.
Kali Orexi