FFwD: Chicken B'stilla
Friday, January 28, 2011
This is one of those recipes that I been waiting to make from Dorie’s book, so when I saw it go up as the choices for our January FFwD group, I did a happy little dance.
Dorie gives us a quick historical lesson on the dish by telling us that this dish is one of the legendary dishes of Morocco that the French has adapted and made their own. Upon further investigation on my part, some say that Arabs brought it to Morocco from the Middle East, and some even venture to say that because of the delicate pastry sheets that incase it, specifically from Persia. This dish has been around! But whoever took the first crack at this dish; it is known today as typical of Morocco and highly regarded as a national dish of that country.
This elaborate meat pie is traditionally made with pigeon or squab, since squabs are often hard to get, chicken is more often use as the substitute. Another substitute is using the phyllo sheets as the blanket that covers this entire filling. In morocco they use a combination of crisp layers of the crepe-like warka dough, also known as Feuilles de brick, which is a thinner cousin of the phyllo dough. In some cases you can find them in Middle Eastern markets or simple buy it online via amazon.com.
No matter where it comes from, this dish was a hit over at our house and most likely will be made again.
It is a bit labor intensive and I highly recommend that when you make it, give yourself two days to put together.
You start with marinating the chicken with onions, garlic and a spice blend made up of saffron, ginger, coriander and cinnamon. Then you cook all of this with chicken broth for another hour until you have a tender chicken that can be shredded. Then the liquid is thickened to form a custard-like sauce with beaten eggs and lemon juice.
The shredded chicken is then added to the sauce and fresh herbs, in this case, parley and cilantro, are mixed in. At this point you chilled overnight, even though Dorie’s recipe tells you can do this all in one day, I highly recommend the overnight chilling time. Leaving the chicken chilling for a day in the refrigerator is going to married all of those exotic flavors together.
The next day, I started with taking out my phyllo dough that I left to thaw in the refrigerator, out and preparing it to cover the 8x2 baking pan that I was going to use to make the pie in. I melted the butter and toasted the almonds and set up a nice assembly line. The recipe calls for you to basically cover the pan (with overhang) with the phyllo sheets that has be generously brushed with the melted butter. You sprinkle the toasted almonds and the fill the whole thing with the chilled chicken filing, fold the overhanging sheets inward and top with more almond and then cover with more layers of phyllo sheets that you fold inward along the edge to make it nice and tight. The final step is to sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on top and bake in a 400°F oven for 20 minutes, then bring the temperature down and finish off with another 20 minutes of cooking time.
The whole dish is screaming “served me now” by the time you get it out of the oven, which is how the recipe recommends, warm or at room temperature.
We have been eating this for the past 3 days and it has gotten better with time. To warm up we simply use our little toaster oven to bring it back up to room temperature and it’s just as good.
Verdicts:
Tom: “It has an unusual taste at first bite, but then by the second bite, it grows on you and it’s actually quite delicious, I’m hoping you make it again”.
Like Tom I had to agree, the taste is different, but I tend to like Moroccan food and they love to mix their savory/sweet, which is something that I love to do anyways. And this dish is just that a perfect marriage of sweet and savory that just works. I’m going to try this again, but this time, I’m going to try this version of it
Things a did differently from the original recipe:
- I used paprika, instead of saffron, since I could not find a good quality of it around town and when I did, it was astronomical in price. I went online, and found it less pricy and it was doable, but I would not have gotten it in time. (Lesson learned for next time: plan ahead!)
- I also added a bit of turmeric to the original spice blend.
- And fresh grated nutmeg to the filling along with some red pepper flakes to give it a kick.
As with all of French Fridays with Dorie recipes you can check out the rest of the groups creations here
Reader Comments (18)
Being of Moroccan heritage, this dish is near and dear to my heart. I make it for holidays and/or special occasions only (it's labor intensive indeed). I'm glad you liked it. I would highly recommend trying the other recipe and see which one you like better. When I make it, I don't use a cake pan, I just do it free-form (that's what my mom always does so it didn't occur to me to use a cake pan). The saffron adds a distinct flavor to the dish which I like. Also, I like to use a combination of dark and white meat (I actually cook a whole chicken and then take the meat off the bone). Too bad I don't have a "recipe" for this. Unlike baking, when I cook, I use a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and I cook stuff until it "looks right" and fully cooked, so not sure how helpful that would be, if I were to post my "recipe" :)
Hanaa, thanks for the feedback. While I was making this recipe I keep thinking, I needs something more and had doubts all the way, specially with the honey part. The other recipe that I found does not have honey at all, but uses powdered sugar as the topping... and like you they are made into small free-form pies and "sauted" in butter before they go into the oven... lots of variations.
I'm going to make it again, and I cannot wait to try the "other" version, which I'm thinking we are going to like even better.
I like the additional facts you included in your post. And, from the photos, your dish turned out great!
Girl, it looks awesome. Love the parsley leaf on top and your improv on the ingredients. I did use saffron - though mine was old - but it's still pretty tasty. To me the big yum in flavor is the saffron, it's a pretty distinctive taste.
@ jenn - Thanks chica... wanted to give it a pop! I know that saffron was going to give it a different taste, but I just could not bring myself to pay over $40 bucks for such a smal amount.. and when I found it online it was too late to have it here on time. The good news is that I did place the order and will be making it again and this time with that ingredient.
I was too lazy to make this week's dish and after reading your post I am bummed!! Especially now that I am on the Hanaa train and she loves this dish too, well dang it. Love your photos and all the extra research you shared--when I do get around to it I'll try to find the warka dough you mentioned. Why not!
Beautiful photos! Looks like it was made with lots of love - so glad you enjoyed it! :)
Your pictures are gorgeous, and you made the filo look very well organized.:) I agree that the filling needs to grow on you just a little (I love lemon chicken, but wasn't sure I liked the lemon in this -- funny) -- but I can also see playing with the flavors and making it personally perfect.
Looks beautiful and delicious!
Great tidbits of info. Photos are amazing and the Bistilla looks to die for. Enjoyed the post. B:)
I like your ideas, too. I wished I'd amped up the spices - definitely wished I'd added some kind of red pepper, but it was fun to put together, and would be fun to make again. Your ideas have inspired me!!
Hi, Monica! Your B'stilla looks great! I need to take food photography lessons from you - your blog is beautiful! Try www.penzeys.com for spices - I love them!
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I did mine over the course of a couple of days & am very glad I did. Great change ups on the spices!
Wish you'll have a chance to try it with saffron next time. It's flavour is really quite incomparable. I too will be making this again despite all the work!
I especially love that first photo where you can see the flakiness of the phyllo and every ingredient perfectly.
Loved your post and your spice combination. I thought this dish tasted great, but could be even better with a few more spices...even more variety and quantity. Beautiful photos!
Your photos are fantastic! I am so glad you liked it and I loved the history that you put into your post as well!
Tom must know he is one lucky guy to have you constantly cook and try new dishes for him! this look mouthwatering! I can feel my tummy growling already!