Finally! My first food post!

  I love the food section of the newspaper.  Ever week I wait with glee for wednesday to roll around.  Wednesday is when the Santa Cruz sentinal (our local paper) puts out their food section.  It is wonderful!  It is worth having the newspaper just for that section once a week alone!  Not only does it review local restaurants but it also tells you what is in season, gives you oodles of recipes, food tips, etc.  A foodie's dream.   So, I was quite pleased when I finally read the food section on friday of this week (it took me until then to find the Wednesday paper) and saw a really cool recipe for Mediterranean Chicken and Artichoke pot pie.   What really caught my eye was the fact that the recipe said I could use a store-bought rotisserie chicken instead of having to bake my own.  I hate having to cook meat separately so that you can use it in a recipe.  It's extra work in addition to all the work of the recipe.  Plus, believe it or not, I am not the best at cooking meat.  That is Scott's job.  Scott is the expert at cooking the meat, cooking breakfast and cooking vegetables (especially stir fries!).  I cook the grains, bake and do any other complex recipe.  We balance each other out well.
  Anyways, I saw this recipe and fell in love. I love pot pie, I am Mediterranean (a quarter Armenian) and I didn't have to cook the chicken!  Sign me up!  The recipe is as follows:

Mediterranean chicken and artichoke pot pie

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
3/4 cup uncooked converted white rice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
1 1/2 cups water
14-ounce can artichoke hearts, drained
3 cups diced, cooked chicken
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
6 large (14-by-18-inch) sheets thawed filo dough
6 tablespoons butter, melted

   In a medium saucepan over medium, heat the oil. Add the onion and cooked, stirring often, until softened and lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the rice, lemon juice, salt, pepper and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cover and simmer the rice until tender and it has absorbed all the liquid, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl to cool slightly.
    Heat the oven to 375 F. Gently squeeze any excess liquid from the artichoke hearts, slice thinly and add to the rice. Add the chicken, feta, oregano and lemon zest. Stir to combine thoroughly. Keeping the sheets of filo dough in a single stack, cut them in half crosswise to make 12 pieces. Cover the pieces with plastic wrap to prevent them from drying as you work. Brush the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with butter.
Brush the top of a piece of filo with butter and set it in the prepared baking dish. Repeat with 5 more pieces of filo. Spread the chicken and rice filling in an even layer over the filo. Top with 6 more pieces of buttered filo.  Bake the pie for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the filo is crisp and golden. Let stand for 5 minutes to cool, then cut into squares to serve.

Start to finish: 1 hour 10 minutes (30 minutes active)

Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 344 calories; 167 calories from fat (49 percent of total calories); 19 g fat (10 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 92 mg cholesterol; 26 g carbohydrate; 18 g protein; 0 g fiber; 714 mg sodium

   It came out delicious (can you tell from my picture?)!  This was the first time that I had worked with phyllo (or filo) dough.  At first I found it a bit difficult becaus it kept breaking on me.  Then I realized that was because it hadn't completely defrosted yet.  Once it defrosted, it became a pretty easy but still delicate thing to work with.  I didn't fit it completely to the baking dish as you can see, but it still worked out.  I also learned about converted rice.  Apparently, it is rice that is cooked with the outer part on and then that outer part is removed after cooking.  So, it is faster cooking than brown rice but more nutritious than white.  Interesting.  Lemon zest made the dish!  Yum!