Bestilla
Festive Chicken Pie
Traditionally, this famous Moroccan pie is made with pigeons, and they are given as an alternative. Squab pigeons are young pigeons specially bred for the table. Chicken is a popular substitute in this dish, even in Morocco.
SERVES 6–8
150 g (6 oz) smen or butter
1.5 kg (3 lb 5 oz) chicken, quartered, or 3 × 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) squab pigeons, halved
2 large red onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
pinch of saffron threads soaked in 2 tablespoons warm water
500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) chicken stock
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
3 tablespoons chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves
5 eggs, lightly beaten
100 g (4 oz/2/3 cup) blanched almonds, toasted and finely chopped
3 tablespoons icing (confectioners’) sugar, plus extra to serve
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus extra to serve
100 g (4 oz) smen, extra, melted
14 sheets filo pastry
Preheat the oven to 160°C (315°F/Gas 2–3). Melt the smen in a flameproof casserole dish over medium heat. Brown the chicken or squab well, then set aside. Add the onion to the dish and cook for 10 minutes, or until golden. Stir in the garlic and spices, then the saffron, its soaking liquid and the stock. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Cover and bake, turning occasionally, for 1 hour, or until cooked through. Add a little extra water if needed. Remove the chicken, reserving the sauce. Discard the cinnamon stick. Remove the chicken from the bones and cut into small pieces.
Put the sauce, lemon juice and herbs in a saucepan and reduce over high heat for 10 minutes, or until thick. Reduce the heat to very low, gradually stir in the eggs until scrambled, then remove from the heat. Add the chicken, and season, to taste.
Mix the almonds with the icing sugar and cinnamon. Grease a 30 cm (12 in) pizza pan or pie plate with melted smen.
Increase the oven temperature to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4). Stack eight sheets of filo pastry and brush the top sheet with smen. Place that sheet evenly across the pan with the ends overhanging. Repeat with the next seven sheets, brushing and fanning sheets to cover the pan, with the pastry overhanging evenly all round. Fill with the chicken mixture and smooth over. Fold four of the flaps back over, then brush with smen and sprinkle with the almond mixture. Fold the other four sheets over and brush the top with smen. Brush the remaining six filo sheets with smen, fanning onto the pie as before. Using kitchen scissors, cut the overhanging pastry evenly around the edge about 3 cm (1¼ in) from the edge of the pan. Using a rubber spatula to lift up the edge of the pie, tuck the overhanging pastry underneath. Bake the pie for 45–50 minutes, or until golden.
Sift extra icing sugar over the top of the pie and make a lattice pattern with extra cinnamon.
