I was very excited to see that Meeta at What’s for Lunch Honey? chose such an amazing theme for Monthly Mingle #9: Arab
ian Nights.
I have always enjoyed eating the many different cuisines that would fall under such a broad category. I am no stranger to homemade hummus, tabouleh and curry, so this was a chance to try something new. My thoughts first rushed back to one of the last meals I had eaten out. On a trip to Seattle, our group decided to try a Moroccan restaurant. The hit dish of the evening was, hands down, the Chicken Bastilla, a sweet and savory appetizer. I figured: why not? If it ends up half as good as what we had, I would be pleased.
I found a recipes for Chicken Bastilla on Recipe Zaar. I have never used this site before, so did not know how well I could depend on a user-submitted recipe. I held my breath and pressed on. I was suprised to find that there were scrambled eggs in the dish, as I had not noticed an ‘eggy’ taste. Likewise, in my final product, the egg was not noticable. If you knew it was in there, you could probably detect it a bit more than normal.
My first challange was that I ran out of cilantro as I used it in a dish two nights prior. No cilantro for my chicken bastilla, but I figured it would not completely ruin the dish. The second challenge was that I had never worked with phyllo dough. This was probably not the best recipe for my first venture into phyllo dough use. I was suppose to keep it wrapped while working and brush with olive oil along the way. I really need to get a brush! I did not layer it properly so the filling started to push through the bottom. I had to start adding pieces of dough to the sides and bottom. I felt like this was some wierd paper mache project from grade school! Once I finally had everything all wrapped up, I realized that I forgot to add the almonds! Problem was solved by sprinkling them on top.
The final product was that it was super extremely tasty. Not as good as the restaurant, but not too far off. Theirs was a bit more liquidy in the middle, which probably could have been achieved by not boiling the juices down so far. I will definitly make this one again!
Chicken Bastilla (please note that this took me 3 hours from start to finish)
The Ingredients:
- 1 small chicken or 1.5 pounds of boneless chicken thighs (I used the boneless chicken)
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 2 tsp. freshly grated ginger
- 1/8 tsp. saffron threads, grounded
- 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon (plus more for dusting)
- 3 Tbs. fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 3 Tbs. cilantro, finely chopped (I omitted)
- 3 eggs
- 2 Tbs. unsalted butter
- 2 tsp. sugar
- 1 package of phyllo dough (I used about 4 oz. of dough)
- salt and pepper for seasoning
- olive oil for brushing dough
- confectioners’ sugar for dusting
The Steps:
- Put the chicken in a saucepan with the onion, ginger, saffron, cilantro, 1 tsp of cinnamon, and the parsley, and season with salt and pepper.
- Add enough water to barely cover the chicken and simmer gently, covered, for 45 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Transfer the chicken to a plate. When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and take the meat off the bones and coarsely chop the meat and then set aside.
- Boil the cooking juices until they are reduced to a thick, dryish sauce. Divide into 2 equal portions.
- Beat the eggs and butter with half the reduced cooking juices and cook, stirring constantly, until the eggs are scrambled and set aside.
- Toast the almonds in a dry, heavy frying pan, stirring frequently, until lightly browned. Mix almonds with the remaining 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and 2 tsp. sugar.
- On a baking sheet, use the phyllo pastry (overlapping sheets) to make a square at least three layers thick and 18 inches across. I just kept on adding layers until it stopped leaking through.
- Spread the remaining cooking juices in a 7-inch circle in the center of the pastry. Cover with the egg mixture, and top with chicken and almonds.
- Fold the sides of the pastry up and over the filling to completely enclose the filling. If necessary, patch any gaps with more pastry, always brushing with oil.
- Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and crisp.
- To serve, lightly dust confectioner’s sugar andground cinnamon over the top.
based on a recipes by Tracy K at Recipe Zaar and modified by ashleystravel
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WOW! Now that is what I call a might good looking dish. Thanks for entering it to the MM!
What a wonderful dish! It may be time-consuming, but I am sure it all worths it!
Anything involving fillo is time consuming but your results are superb! Wish I could fork a big bite out of it!