Gary's Cookbook

Ingredients

• 3/4 cups of walnut pieces
• 1 lb chicken broiled or baked
• Philo sheets
• 1/2 cup feta crumbled
• 1 cup finely chopped parsley (loosely packed)
• 3 cloves garlic chopped small
• 1/2 cup onion chopped small
• 1 TBS lemon juice
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper (Javanese, if you can get it)
• butter or olive oil

Instructions

The goal with all of the chopping is to get the ingredients to around the size of large crumbs. Chop too finely and you will probably get something that works like dough. The taste might be the same but you will lose the texture - an important element for a dish like this. It's better to "under-chop". It won't hold together as well but the texture will be more palatable.

Tear the chicken into shreds and then chop into very small pieces (not quite minced but close).
Grind or chop the walnuts into coarse crumbs. I do it by hand with a mortar and pestle. A food processor at very low speed will work. What you don't want is walnut meal.

Sautée the onions and garlic in olive oil
Mix all the ingredients together with a fork
Melt butter in a pan. This is for the philo.

There are a few ways to make the pie. You can do it in a pan lasagna-style using philo sheets to line the bottom, sides, and top of the pan. You can do it spanikopita-style, by spooning the filling onto sheets and folding them into pies. You can make lots of small pies or one big one. It's up to you.

You will want to use 3 or 4 sheets for pies and 6 for lasagna-style (3 bottom, 3 top). How you oil the sheets is up to you. Some just butter the top sheet, others butter each sheet individually. You can use butter or olive oil.

Bake at 375° until the philo is golden.

Alternatives

You can use ground chicken or ground lamb. Try to keep them chunky when you cook them. Remember, you're after texture.
You can use hazelnuts or pistachios instead of walnuts. Almonds are, I think, too subtle a taste and peanuts too gross a taste.
You can skip the egg, if necessary, and if you have any fresh peppermint available, a teaspoon of that (chopped finely) would be a nice addition.

Meals

You could serve this with either mjeddrah,wild rice, or tabouli, and a salad.