Moroccan Chicken Pastilla

Steps

for the chicken and the veggies (onion sauce)

• Peel and wash the onions
• Wash and dry the herbs
• Chisel finely the herbs and place them into a dish
• Chisel finely the onions and place it into a dish
• Slice the chicken into small dices
• Heat-up a pan
• Add the onion and stir constantly until it loses its humidity a bit and starts to shine
• Add the olive oil and continue to stir
• Add the chicken and stir in with the onion
• Add the herbs and stir
• Add the saffron and the cinnamon stick
• Stir everything together
• Add salt and pepper
• Add some water until it covers up the chicken
• Let it simmer in medium-low heat for 20’ to cook the chicken
• Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from heat into a dish, and remove the cinnamon stick as well
• Continue to cook the veggies in medium-low heat until there is no more water
• Beat the eggs into an omelet
• Start adding the eggs little by little in low heat
• Stir constantly to avoid the creation of an omelet
• Remove from heat and let it cool
• Break the chicken into almost crumbs with your fingers (once cold)

for the almonds

• Boil some water into a casserole
• Add the almonds
• Cook for 3’
• Remove from heat and drain
• Let them cool a little
• Use you index and you thumb to rub them and remove their skin
• At this point, if you like, you can cook them in a little bit of butter; if you do so, let them cook again
• Chop the almonds in rough pieces with a knife
• Add them into a bowl
• Pour on top the orange blossom, the sugar and the cinnamon
• Toss everything together and stir with a spoon
• Put aside

to bring everything together

• Cover a circle of 13cm diameter and 5cm height with butter
• Cover with butter a part of a tray going into the oven and place on top the circle
• Preheat the oven at 180°C
• Melt the butter for the bottom part of the pastilla
• Use a cooking brush to spread the butter all over the first brick pastry sheet
• Place the sheet into the circle by keeping the buttery part on top
• Spread the butter to the next sheet and place it into the circle
• Continue with the rest of the sheets and butter up 5 sheets in total
• Butter up a 6^th sheet and fold it in two
• Place it in the circle and with a scissors cut the exceedance of dough on the sides; you need to consolidate the bottom of the pastilla
• Add the mix of veggies
• Add on top the chicken broken into crumbs
• Press everything together
• Add on top the layer of almonds and press well
• Bring towards the center of the mold all the sheets that are outside of it and press well
• Melt the butter for the upper part of the pastilla
• Spread some butter on the 7^th sheet of brik pastry
• With a scissors cut off a disk by removing 3cm on the edge
• Place this disk onto the almonds, with the buttery side on top, and press the sheet well into the mold to cover up the almonds and the bottom sheets
• Spread some butter on top of the 8^th sheet of brik pastry and form a disk as before
• Place the disk on top of the mold and press the edges into the mold to cover well the filling
• Do the same thing for the 9^th sheet and keep some melted butter for the egg wash
• Beat the egg yolk with the remaining butter
• Use a cooking brush to spread the egg wash on top of the pastilla
• Cook for 20’
• Stir the confectioner’s sugar with a little bit of cinnamon
• Once the pastilla is cooked, let it cool a little bit, and sprinkle on top some of the mix with confectioner’ sugar and cinnamon
• It’s delicious :-)
• Enjoy!

Inspiration

The recipe of the chicken pastilla into the book M’Barek Imen, Les spécialités marocaines, Maison Yamama, p. 16.