Spanakopita Chicken Pot Pie

& i need (fiction) book recs!

Hi! Welcome to “good mood food” from Kale Me Maybe’s Carina Wolff. If you’ve made it here and aren’t yet a subscriber, come join! You can expect recipes, musings, and faves in your inbox every Wednesday! Paid subscribers get even more! Learn more about the paid tier of my newsletter here. You can also try a week for free!

CATCH UP!

I am back from family vacation, and although it was lovely and relaxing, I’m back to being stressed out at home. I love taking trips, but sometimes the peace I feel while I’m away often feels like a bandaid, and lately, I’ve been trying to tackle my anxious feelings at home rather than run away from them.

I finished Wellness on the trip, and I was obsessed. I want to get back into another book that just completely blows my mind, and for some reason, I’ve really been struggling to find some for the past two years. Please, please send recs if you have any! I have Murakami’s 1Q84 sitting on my nightstand waiting to be read, but I’m a little intimidated by the size.

THINGS I’M LOVING!

I got these mini cocottes from World Market just so I could make this week’s recipe! I have some extra mini cocottes from Staub that I love, but I wanted something a little bit bigger for these pot pies. Their perfect for a heartier, individual portion, and they are also very cute and affordable!

I was never really a blush gal until I started using Ilia’s Multi-Stick! I use the Dreamer shade, which is a terracotta color, and I love how rosy and glowy, yet still subtle and natural, the color is! It’s also very easily blendable since it’s a cream.

I recently started going to acupuncture, and although it took me a few times to find someone I really love, the cool thing about it is I can use my ClassPass credits! Sometimes I forget that you can get massages, do acupuncture, etc. on ClassPass in addition to workouts, so it ends up being such a great deal! If you use this link, you’ll get a free trial + 20 bonus credits!!

RECIPE!

I wanted to make this recipe a couple weeks ago before I left for vacation, but I could not, for the life of me, find somewhere that had puff pastry in stock! It was sold out EVERYWHERE. Although, I also realized yesterday I should’ve just made my own. Whatever, I got my hands on it finally, and this dish that has been floating around in my head has finally become a reality.

Spanakopita is a Greek savory spinach pie usually made with spinach, feta, and phyllo dough. I wanted to make a chicken pot pie using Spanakopita flavors, so I swapped the phyllo dough for puff pastry and basically made the base of the pot pie using Spanakopita filling and then just added chicken.

It came out amazing!! It’s super easy to make and a little less heavy than your classic chicken pot pie, and you get a big dose of greens which is amazing! If you wanted to make it a smidge healthier, you could remove the bottom layer of puff pastry and just place it over the top.

Also, depending on the size of your ramekin, you can adjust the number of pies this makes. I used 14 oz cocottes, and there was enough filling to make about 3 pot pies. I ended up just baking 2 and saving the filling. If you use smaller ramekins, you’ll probably yield 4!

Spanakopita Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients (serves 2-3)

• 2 chicken breasts (about 1 lb)

• 2 tbsp olive oil, divided

• ½ large yellow onion, diced

• 16 oz frozen spinach, thawed

• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• 5 oz feta, crumbled

• 1 cup chicken broth

• ¼ cup dill

• ¼ cup parsley

• 2 tbsp flour

• 2 sheets puff pastry, thawed in the fridge (you’ll need about 20 oz)

• 1 egg, whisked

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Cut up your chicken breasts into bite sized pieces. Heat up 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add the chicken, season with salt and pepper, and cook until chicken is cooked through, about 8-9 minutes. Remove from pan, and add to a plate to set aside.

2. In the same skillet, heat up another 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the onions, and cook for 6-7 minutes until translucent. While onions are cooking, take your thawed spinach and squeeze out as much water as possible. When onions are ready, add the spinach, garlic, feta, and chicken broth to the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes until feta gets soft, and then mix in the parsley, dill, and flour. Add in the cooked chicken, and remove from heat.

3. Roll out your puff pastry dough, and then use your ramekin to cut circles out of the dough. Make the circle 1/2 inch wider than your ramekin, and cut 2 circles per ramekin you’re using.

4. Place 1 piece of circle dough at the bottom of each ramekin, folding it up the sides. Add the filling, and then cover the ramekin with the other piece of circle dough, folding it over the edges of the ramekin and forming a crust along the edges with your fingers. Use a fork to press down on the sides, and cut two slices down the middle.

5. Brush the dough with egg, and transfer to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. Top with flake salt and more dill, if desired. Serve warm!