Bastilla

 Bastilla

 

See the original recipe here: http://www.tv3.co.nz/The-Ultimate-Chicken-Pie---Bastilla/tabid/938/articleID/79495/Default.aspx

Now I know most of you are familiar with chicken pot pie, but have you heard of Bastilla? It is a Moroccan version of chicken pot pie, except not like chicken pot pie at all. It is more like a meat baklava. I decided to make Bastilla as my savory entry to a Pi Day pie contest. I made a Nutella and Meringue Tart for the sweet entry. The recipe is available here: http://bellanutella.com/2012/02/06/riciollina-nutella-and-meringue-tart/)

I did not to create a full post the tart because I am missing some critical pictures, but here are the highlights:

 

Notice the almond Nutella layer in the middle.

I had a lot of issues rolling out the tart dough and thought it would come out terrible, but it was well received at the pie party. There were many young kids who asked for seconds and thirds. Goes to show that you should keep baking, even if you think you failed because it still may turn out well. Baking teaches you so much about life.

Okay back to the Bastilla. I have not heard if any of my entries one, but I update this post once I find out. Making Bastilla looks intimidating, but it is totally doable and you don't need any expensive equipment to make it.

Recipe

Special Note 

Depending on how long you think it will take you to finish making all the fillings, you do need to make sure your oven is preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and your phyllo dough is defrosted according to the phyllo dough's instruction. Mine said it should be out of the freezer for at least 2 hours.

Chicken

1. First you have to cook your raw chicken. A bonus from the recipe is that you end up with chicken stock. In a large pot, place:

• 1 onion that has been peeled and quartered
• 4 chicken drumsticks (the recipe said whole chicken legs so maybe it is 4 drumsticks and thighs, who knows)
• 1 celery stock that has been chopped
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper

2. Fill the pot with water until everything is covered. You don't want to fill it too much. That will dilute the chicken stock.

3. Bring the water to a simmer (gentle boil) and cook the chicken for 30 to 45 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and almost falls apart to the touch. Once the chicken is done, fish the chicken out and put it into a separate container so it cools down faster. Filter out the remaining liquid because it is homemade chicken stock. You will need some (not all) of the stock for the rest of the recipe. Save the left over stock for another use.

4. Once the chicken is all cooled down, take the skin off and shred the remaining meat with two forks or your hands.

5. In a small bowl, measure out and combine:

• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger 
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric 
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon of saffron threads which is optional, but adds a lot of flavor
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

6. Dice 3 peeled onions. I used a food processor because it makes it a lot easier and I don't like to know I am eating onions, so I like to dice them really fine. You don't need a food processor to chop the onions.

7. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large pan. The recipe called for rice bran oil, but I used olive oil. I think another vegetable oil would of worked fine as well. When heating oil in a pan, I like to heat the pan a little bit without oil first. It makes swirling the oil around easier. I would put the heat on medium or medium high.

8. Add the onions in and cook them until they are soft.

I forgot to take a picture without the spices, but here is how soft onions look like.

9. Add in the spices and mix until the spices are well combined with the onions.

10. Add in the shredded chicken and 1/2 a cup of the chicken stock you made. Cook until combined and most of the chicken stock has mostly evaporated.

11. Try a little to see if you want to add more seasoning. If all is well, set aside and let it cool.

Egg Mixture

1.  Chop about 1 cup of fresh parsley.

2. Heat up 1 cup of the chicken stock you made. Don't make it boiling, just hot.

3. While the chicken stock is heating up, crack and beat 4 eggs in a separate bowl.

4.  Once the stock is hot enough, add in the parsley and the eggs.

5. Keep whisking until the mixture resembles scrambled eggs. You don't have to whisk vigorously, but you do want to make sure the heat is well distributed so the mixture cooks evenly. It will seem almost sudden when the mixture cooks enough.

6. There will be some excess liquid. Strain the liquid out of the egg mixture and let it cool.

Almond Filling

1. Combine 1 cup of ground almonds, 2 tablespoons of granulated white sugar, and 3 tablespoons of oil. For the ground almonds, almond flour works or make your own ground almonds with a food processor. If you do make your own ground almonds, make sure you don't overprocess the almonds. It will turn into almond butter, which is good, but not what you want. For the oil, I used olive, but you can use any other oil that doesn't have a strong taste. Usually olive oil is considered to have a strong taste, but I thought it would go well with this dish.

I used a fork to combine the almond filling ingredients. In the end, it should resemble coarse paste.

Assembly

1. Your oven should be preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and your phyllo dough should be defrosted according to the phyllo dough's instruction.

2. Melt  5 tablespoons of butter (salted or unsalted) and have a pastry brush available.

3. Line the bottom of a 10 inch pie tin with 7 sheets of phyllo dough. Make sure you butter each and every sheet of phyllo dough. You should be rotating the pan as you place the phyllo dough so the entire pan gets lined. Be generous with the butter. In addition,  place the phyllo dough so that some of it overhangs on the edge of the tin. Phyllo dough is delicate, but not impossible to work with. You might tear a few sheets, but they come in large packs. Just be careful and you should be fine.

4. If you aren't working with the opened pack of phyllo dough at the moment, cover it with a damp towel to prevent if from drying out.

5. Once the tin is all lined, add your fillings into the tin. Start with chicken, then the egg, and top with the almond filling. Make sure you flatten out each layer with a spatula so each layer is even.

6. Encase the filling with the overhanging phyllo dough and place 3 more sheets of phyllo dough onto to fully close the filling. Tuck in the top layers of phyllo dough. Make sure you butter the phyllo dough.

With some of the broken sheets of phyllo dough, I wrapped them into a roll to create a Pi letter. Get creative with yours. It will bake fine as long as you butter the outside.

7. Baked your Bastilla for 20 to 30 minutes, until it is golden brown. Mine took about 30 minutes.

8. While the Bastilla is still hot, brush some honey that has been warmed up on top and sprinkle some sliced almonds.

I know this looks like a crazy difficult dish to make, but it is not so bad and worth it. Make some Bastilla for your next get together. Let me know how it came out. Also, feel free to request the next dish I put on my blog via comments.