This recipe was inspired by chef Joyce Goldstein; artist, teacher, restauranteur and author of The Mediterranean Kitchen cookbook. While I was perusing the book I came across a recipe for Kotopitta — Greek for Chicken Pie. It’s a rich cream based, roux thickened mixture of spinach and chicken which, in chef Goldstein’s interpretation, is baked in individual ramekins topped with a phyllo pastry crust. The phyllo crust is baked separately to keep it nice and crisp.

A staple dinner on rotation in our house is chicken pot pie. A side dish also on rotation (not with chicken pot pie though) is creamed spinach. It occurred to me that Kotopitta is essentially a blending of the two — pot pie and creamed spinach. It also occurred to me that I could lighten the dish somewhat by reducing the amount of butter called for in chef Goldstein’s recipe (4 oz/115g) and replacing the cream with milk.

I set out to try these modifications only to find I didn’t have any chicken in the fridge. I did, however, have some bacon. “Will that do”? I wondered. Silly question really. I mean, when did bacon not make everything taste better? A good choice as it turned out. The bacon gave the creamy spinach a distinct but not dominating smokey bacon flavor. Replacing the butter for the roux with the rendered bacon fat not only reduced by half the amount of fat in the recipe, it added more bacon flavor. All together, a winning combination.

So, let’s break this down…

The Spinach:

If you have a ton of spinach growing in your garden by all means use that. For convenience though, a bag of frozen spinach works perfectly well. I have used whole leaf, cut leaf and chopped spinach and all worked very well. I prefer the whole or cut leaf over the chopped spinach for texture. But go ahead and use whatever you can get your hands on.

You will want to defrost the spinach of course – just follow the instructions on the bag. If you have enough foresight, you can take the frozen spinach out of the freezer hours before you need it and let it thaw on the counter. I’m not that well organized so I usually dump the spinach into a microwave safe bowl, cover it with a plate and nuke it for 5-6 minutes until it is completely thawed.

Recipes that call for frozen spinach usually have you squeeze out the excess water in the spinach after it is thawed and before adding it to the pan. It’s a messy process with bits of spinach getting stuck in the strainer, on your hands and the countertop (it’s like glitter; it just doesn’t seem to go away) and there are more utensils to clean up. For this application I have chosen to forego this step and instead add the spinach, water and all, to the pan. It not only streamlines the process but also lightens the dish further by contributing to the liquid component in the béchamel and thereby reducing the amount of milk needed. The spinach flavor is not muted by all the extra dairy and as an added bonus, the nutrient rich spinach water is included in the dish instead of being poured down the sink.

The Bacon:

Here in the US bacon comes almost exclusively from the pig’s belly; called streaky bacon in the UK. The bacon most Brits are familiar with is from the animal’s back and looks for all the world like a super thin pork chop. Curiously, here in the US back bacon is often marketed as Irish bacon. Go figure! Anyway, it’s the smoked streaky bacon you want for this recipe, cut crosswise into biggish pieces about 3/4″ (2 cm) wide.

Feta Cheese:

My recipe for this Spinach and Bacon Pie was inspired by Joyce Goldstein’s Kotopitta recipe. Chef Goldstein in turn was inspired by the classic Greek Spanakopita (spinach pie) which includes feta cheese. Chef Goldstein’s Kotopitta has feta and so does my spinach and bacon pie; it adds a slight tangy creaminess.

Don’t skimp on the feta and get the good Greek stuff made with sheep’s milk. Avoid feta made with cow’s milk which just doesn’t have the flavor of sheep’s milk feta.

The Pie Crust:

Spanakopita is traditionally made by layering a pie dish with several sheets of phyllo, adding the filling and topping with more phyllo. As I mentioned above, Joyce Goldstein bakes the phyllo separately alongside the filling to form the lid to top the pie when it comes out of the oven. This way the pastry retains its characteristic shatteringly crisp texture. Baking the pie with the pastry lid on will cause at least the first few layers of phyllo to become soggy.

If you have ever worked with phyllo dough you know how finicky it can be. The tissue thin sheets tear easily and they dry out very quickly becoming even more brittle and prone to crumbling at the slightest touch. Still, with a little bit of care and understanding of the nature of phyllo it is entirely doable.

Phyllo is typically sold in the frozen food section of the grocery store and obviously it must be defrosted before use. The instructions on the package will likely tell you to thaw it out overnight in the fridge. Once you open it up and unroll the sheets of dough you will want to keep them covered with a damp kitchen towel. This will keep the sheets nice and pliable and less prone to tearing. With phyllo you typically lay multiple sheets on top of each other, brushing each sheet with melted butter or olive oil before adding the next one. If one sheet tears a little bit don’t sweat it, it will be covered with the next sheet anyway.

So, if you keep the thawed out dough sealed in its original package right up until you start assembling your pie, it is a very convenient, approachable and traditional option.

Speaking of tradition, I should point out that while this Spinach and Bacon Pie has its roots (in part at least) in spanakopita, is not and does not claim to be any representation of that classic Greek dish. That being so…

Are there alternatives to using Phyllo?

Indeed there are!

You can buy ready made pie dough in the freezer section at the grocery store, alongside the phyllo if you are willing to pay a premium for it. Store bought puff pastry is another expensive option. You can keep the cost down by making your own puff pastry and it’s not that difficult really, but that may be over the top for this simple dish. Ya think?

But then again this is a pie after all so why not just use a standard flakey pie crust? Sure, home made pie dough has its challenges just as phyllo does and especially for home cooks who do not make pies that often. So you’re exchanging one set of challenges for another but it is an option worth considering I think.

The thought of making pie dough can strike fear into the hearts of even the most confidant cooks. If you are a professional baker making pie dough all day and every day you know instinctively when the dough is right. The fat is cut into the flour just enough. The amount of liquid added is exactly right. The dough is handled just enough to give it structure without it becoming tough. Home bakers who bake a lot of pies also develop an instinct for it. But what about the rest of us for whom making pie dough is a hit and miss affair fraught with peril? Is there no hope? Indeed there is.

Many home bakers who make pies have their own tried and true recipe for pie crust that they swear by (“works every time”, “everybody loves it”, etc., etc.) and I am no exception. If you have a favorite recipe you are happy with use it by all means. If you are on the look out for the perfect, all butter, flakey pie crust recipe, I highly recommend taking a look at Kenji Lopez-Alt’s treatise on pie crusts at the Serious Eats web site. Kenji is the guy who first came up with the idea of adding vodka to pie dough. His rationale was that gluten, the arch enemy of tender flakey crusts, will only develop in the presence of water. And since vodka is 60% water and 40% alcohol you could add more liquid to your dough to make it more manageable without risking it coming out like a hard tack biscuit. In the Serious Eats article Kenji goes further, making perfect flakey pie crust every time, guaranteed – sans vodka!

I always make extra pie crust because there never seems to be quite enough of it if you just cover the pie. I cover the pie with some of the crust and bake the rest alongside. The underside of the crust on the pie remains soft of course but we don’t mind that. The pie doesn’t look like a pie without its crust, I don’t think. If you prefer, you could bake the pie and crust separately; just cover the naked pie with foil while it bakes. You would want to cut your pie dough into serving sized pieces before popping it into the oven though, say 1-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ (3.75 x 6.25cm).

Most recipes tell you to chill the dough for an hour before rolling it out, to let the gluten relax and to fully hydrate the flour. Contrary to conventional wisdom I roll out my pie dough as soon as I make it, laying the rolled out dough on a sheet pan before chilling it. The soft, freshly made dough is so much easier to work with than the chilled dough and it seems to me if you are going to beat up your dough (mixing and rolling) you might as well do it all at once and get the suffering over with. It gets to rest in the fridge either way.

Dill:

Dill is a traditional ingredient in Spanakopita. Chef Goldstein adds it to her Kotopitta but I choose not to use it in my spinach and bacon pie because I don’t particularly like the taste of dill. I’m also not sure how the dill would play against the smoky bacon flavor. However, if you like dill and want to include it, by all means add a half cup or so to the spinach mixture.

This is what you will need:

From the top: Pie crust (this is my own home made but you can buy a pie crust if it is more convenient for you), Spinach, Flour, Nutmeg, Garlic, Milk, Bacon, Feta Cheese and Onion. (Not shown: salt, pepper and optional dill).
Prepping these ingredients before you start cooking (called, Mise-en-Place) is recommended.

The Process Goes Like This:

1. If you are making your own pie crust do that first. While you prepare the filling the dough can rest up a while in the fridge. You can make the pie dough several hours ahead and keep it chilled until you are ready to bake the pie. If you are using a store bought, frozen pie crust, make sure you leave plenty of time to let it thaw.
2. Defrost the frozen Spinach according to the packet instructions (this too can be done a bit ahead of time) and prepare the rest of the ingredients.
3. Pre-heat your oven to 375°F (190°C).
4. Fry the bacon and once it is done remove it from the pan and set aside.
5. Sauté the onion and garlic in the rendered bacon fat.
6. Stir the flour into the onions and cook for a minute or so.
7. Pour in half the milk, stirring to blend in the flour and onions.
8. When the roux starts to thicken, pour in the rest of the milk and bring to a simmer.
9. Cook the roux gently for about 5 minutes or until the raw flour taste has gone.
10. Season with salt and pepper — about 1/2 Tsp of salt and 1/4 Tsp of pepper.
11. Stir in the thawed spinach, water and all, and mix until thoroughly combined.
12. Stir in the crumbled feta cheese.
13. (Add 1/2 cup of fresh dill if you prefer. This is optional).
14. Add a grating of nutmeg and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
15. Pour half the filling into a 2qt (2L) dish and sprinkle on the reserved bacon.
16. Spread the remaining filling over the bacon and cover with the pie crust.
17. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the crust is GB&D (that’s Golden Brown and Delicious) and the filling is bubbling.
18. (If you made extra pie dough to serve on the side, place it in the oven at the 20 minute mark to bake alongside the pie.)
19. Allow the pie to cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.
20. (If the extra pie crust looks a bit pale when the pie is ready, leave it in the oven another few minutes to fully cook while the pie cools.)