Pastilla

A savoury pie dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon, where the eggs are cooked into the cooking liquid until almost nothing is left.

Chicken, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains chicken.

Ingredients

For the filling

• 1.5 kg chicken, jointed, or 4 pigeon
• 3 onions, finely chopped
• 1 bunch coriander, chopped
• 1 bunch parsley, chopped
• a generous pinch of saffron
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 100 g butter
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 300 ml water
• salt and pepper

For the almonds

• 250 g blanched almonds
• oil, for frying
• 60 g icing sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon orange blossom water

To build

• 10 sheets filo pastry
• 100 g butter, melted
• icing sugar and ground cinnamon, to finish

Method

1. THE EGGS ARE COOKED INTO THE COOKING LIQUID UNTIL IT IS ALMOST DRY, and this is the step that decides the pie. The chicken is poached, lifted out, and the broth reduced hard; then beaten egg is stirred into it over a low heat until it sets into a thick, curdled, almost crumbly mass with no free liquid at all. Left wet, it soaks the pastry from the inside and the base is raw. It looks unpromising and it is correct.
2. SUGAR ON A SAVOURY PIE IS THE POINT, NOT A GARNISH. A thick dusting of icing sugar and cinnamon over the top, in lines or a lattice. Anyone leaving it off has made a chicken pie.
3. Saffron steeped in warm water 10 minutes.
4. Chicken, onions, butter, saffron, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon stick, half the herbs, water, salt and pepper into a wide pan. Lid on, simmered 45 minutes until the chicken falls off the bone.
5. Chicken lifted out and cooled. Meat stripped, skin and bones discarded, flesh shredded coarsely.
6. THE BROTH REDUCED HARD, uncovered, until only about 200 ml of thick oniony liquid is left.
7. Heat to LOW. Beaten eggs poured in and stirred constantly, 8 to 10 minutes, until set, curdled and nearly dry. The rest of the herbs through. Cooled completely.
8. Almonds fried in oil until golden, drained, cooled, then pulsed coarsely with the icing sugar, cinnamon and orange blossom water. Not to a powder -- it wants texture.
9. A round tin buttered. Six sheets of filo laid in like spokes, each buttered, overhanging the edge generously, with the rest under a damp cloth.
10. Half the almond mixture over the base, then all the chicken, then the egg mixture, then the rest of the almonds.
11. The overhanging sheets folded in over the top, then two more sheets laid on and tucked down the sides to seal.
12. Baked at 180C for 40 minutes until deep gold and crisp, then turned out and the underside baked 10 minutes more if it is pale.
13. Rested 10 minutes, then dusted heavily with icing sugar and cinnamon lines drawn across it. Served hot.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Morocco · All recipes