BASTILLA RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 360 degrees F (180 degrees C).
• Place chicken breasts in a small saucepan and cover with bouillon and water. Poach over medium-low heat, just below the boiling point. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, until no longer pink in center. Dice chicken. Reserve bouillon.
• In a small bowl, whisk eggs with 1/2 cup reserved bouillon and chopped parsley. In a separate bowl, mix together cinnamon and sugar.
• Roll out one sheet of pastry into a 12 inch square. Cut other sheet of pastry in half and roll out into two 8 inch squares. Fit 12 inch square of pastry into a 9 inch pie pan.
• Spread half of diced chicken evenly across bottom of pastry. Pour half of egg mixture over chicken. Sprinkle with half of cinnamon and sugar mixture, then with salt and pepper. Cover with one 8 inch square of pastry. Cover pastry square with remaining chicken, egg mixture, and cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle with more salt and pepper. Cover with remaining pastry square. Fold edges of bottom pastry over top of pie. Brush with melted butter or margarine.
• Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, until golden brown. Serve lukewarm or cold.

Steps:

• In large skillet or 5-quart dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts and cook until golden brown on all sides-about 5 minutes. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
• In same large skillet, add onions, garlic, ginger, and remaining 1 tablespoon oil; saute, stirring constantly, just until onions are translucent. Stir in cinnamon, cumin, ground coriander, red pepper, turmeric, and saffron. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring constantly, until onions are completely coated with spices-about 3 minutes.
• Increase heat to high. Add broth, fresh coriander, and parsley to skillet with onion mixture. Heat to boiling, stirring to combine. Return chicken to skillet, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until chicken is tender, approximately 30 minutes.
• Remove chicken from skillet to plate and set aside to cool. Continue to cook onion mixture, covered, until almost dry, about 15 minutes. Add eggs, salt, and pepper to onion mixture.Cook until soft curds form, about 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and set onion-egg mixture aside to cool.
• Topping:. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Spread almonds on ungreased baking sheet and place in oven for 7 minutes or until lightly toasted. In food processor with chopping blade (or by hand), process almonds with sugar and cinnamon until coarsely ground.
• When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove and discard skin and bones. Tear chicken into 2-inch-long strips.
• To assemble bastilla, place phyllo between 2 sheets of waxed paper, then cover with damp towel. (Phyllo dries out very quickly. Each time you remove a sheet, be sure to cover remaining sheets with damp towel.) Brush 12-inch pizza pan with some melted butter. Remove 1 sheet of Phyllo and place on pan, letting the edges hang over the rim. Brush phyllo sheet with butter. Working quickly, stack and butter 11 more sheets, arranging them in the pan in an overlapping, circular fashion (like a pinwheel).
• On center of phyllo, in even layers, arrange half the Topping, half of onion-egg mixture, all of chicken strips, the remaining onion-egg mixture, and the remaining Topping, Fold overhanging phyllo over top of bastilla and brush top with butter.
• Continue to butter and arrange 12 phyllo sheets in the same pinwheel fashion over top of bastilla (as before). Carefully tuck the overhanging ends underneath it. Brush top and side of bastills with butter. Cover loosely with foil.(At this point, can be refrigerated two hours or up to 2 days before baking).
• Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake bastilla 20 minutes or until golden. (If bastilla has been chilled, bake 5 to 10 minutes longer.) Place a baking sheet or another 12-inch pizza pan over the bastilla and invert so that the underside is now on top. Return to oven on the new pan (or slide back onto original pan) and bake 25 minutes longer or until crisp and golden.
• If desired, sprinkle confectioners' sugar and ground cinnamon on top of bastilla.
• Note: Ground saffron is available in specialty shops. If you can't find it, crumble the commonly found saffron threads before measuring.