Moroccan Chicken B’stilla Pie (Recipe inspired by THE PERFECT NANNY)

It’s good to challenge yourself, right?

Every now and then?

Well. If you’re in agreement with me, you’ve come to the right post. Prepare yourself, dear reader, because this Moroccan Chicken B’stilla Pie is quite the challenging recipe. At least, if you’re not used to working with phyllo dough. *Raises hand*

Full disclosure: this is nowhere near an original recipe. Since the author of The Perfect Nanny is the first Moroccan woman to win the French literary prize, the Goncourt, I wanted to make a Moroccan dish instead of a French one to go with my book review. Not having an ounce of Moroccan blood in my family history or my circle of friends, I looked to the Interwebs for some culinary inspiration.

After browsing many tagine recipes (all of which looked DELICIOUS), I stumbled across a recipe for Moroccan B’stilla, or *gulp* Pigeon Pie.

Yes, pigeon. You read that correctly. It’s apparently a popular Moroccan dish served at weddings and other special occasions, usually as an appetizer.

The more I read the recipe, the more I was hooked. It had exotic spices like saffron and something called ras el hanout (shout-out to my DC comic fans: anyone else think of R’as al Ghul as you read that? No? Just Me? Okay.), and the finished pie is covered in cinnamon and powdered sugar. SWEET AND SAVORY, BE STILL MY HEART.

Now, now, don’t be frightened about the whole “pigeon” part. I made quite a few modifications to the recipe I found, the chief one being…I’m not actually using pigeon. Despite the fact that I’m in NYC every day and could easily bag myself a free-range pidge or two while walking to work, I decided not to go purely authentic with this particular ingredient.

I used chicken instead, and, to make life even easier, I used a store-bought rotisserie chicken. Voila! (See? There’s the French component for you. De rien). I figured working with phyllo dough was going to be tricky enough, so finding shortcuts for this recipe was key. Oh, and no way was I making my own pastry for this pie. That’s what pre-made frozen phyllo dough is for.

Although I altered some of the core ingredients, I think my B’stilla came out pretty darn good. It has an amazingly exotic flavor: warm hints of cumin, coriander, and allspice permeate the chicken filling, which is held together with scrambled eggs spiked with fresh cilantro, parsley, and the ultimate decadent spice, saffron. There’s a bit of nuttiness, thanks to the toasted almond flour, but the real star is the buttery, flaky, sheets of delicate phyllo dough layered between the filling and encasing the entire pie. And, to top it off – literally – the cinnamon and powdered sugar sprinkled on the crunchy top layer of dough is a fantastic contrast to the pie’s savory contents.

This was my first time working with phyllo dough, and while it wasn’t awful, it’s definitely not my favorite pastry pastime. This stuff tears like cheap toilet paper if you even look at it funny. I have newfound admiration for anyone who makes baklava or spanakopita on a regular basis. It took a little while to get the hang of working with it – particularly when it came to delicately (oh, so delicately) brushing the raw dough with melted butter – but the end result of my careful ministrations was well worth it.

Cook’s tip: make sure you read the instructions for thawing the phyllo dough before starting to make this recipe, and make sure you make the pie filling before you set up your phyllo dough workstation. And, yes, you will want to have a workstation like I’ve pictured in the photos above. Makes life much easier.

So. If you’re looking for a showstopper dish, give this Moroccan Chicken B’stilla Pie a try. Guests will ooooh and ahhh over its presentation, and the unique taste of this flavorful dish will certainly give them something to talk about long after they’ve left your party.

The B’stilla is quite rich, so I do think it would be good served as an crowd-pleasing appetizer. Alternatively, you could pair a small slice with some crisp, green salad for a satisfying lunch.

Moroccan Chicken B’stilla Pie

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

  

• 1/2 cup almond flour, toasted
• 1 lb store-bought rotisserie chicken
• 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, minced
• 1 tbsp ras el hanout spice
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp saffron threads, mixed with 1 tsp water
• 3 tbsp minced fresh cilantro
• 3 tbsp minced fresh parsley
• Kosher salt, to taste
• Ground black pepper, to taste
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 16 sheets store-bought phyllo dough, thawed
• 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

 

PREP INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat your oven to 400F.
• Thaw pastry sheets according to package instructions. Set aside and keep moist according to package instructions.
• Shred rotisserie chicken, both white and dark meat, discarding bones and skin. Set chicken meat aside.
• Toast almond flour in a small saucepan over medium heat until fragrant and lightly toasted, about 3-4 minutes. Set aside.
• Mix the saffron threads with the water in a small bowl. Set aside.
• Mince cilantro and parsley. Set aside.
• Whisk together the chicken broth and three eggs. Set aside.
• Grease a 9” springform pan with cooking spray and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Melt butter in a small dish and set aside.

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

• Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions to pan and sautee until golden, about 8-10 minutes.
• Add the ras el hanout, red pepper flakes, and saffron mixture to the pan, then cook another 1-2 minutes. Remove pan from heat.
• Stir in the toasted almond flour, shredded chicken, egg mixture, cilantro, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix all ingredients until combined, then set aside.
• Set up your workstation for layering the pie: Take the springform pan resting on the lined baking sheet, and set it near the pan with the chicken filling. Arrange your thawed phyllo dough nearby, making sure to keep the dough moist as directed. Place the melted butter and a pastry brush near nearby, as well.
• Carefully brush one sheet of phyllo dough with melted butter. Once done, CAREFULLY lift up the buttered sheet AND the sheet beneath it, and GENTLY press the two sheets into the bottom of the springform pan, pressing the dough up along the sides of the pan if necessary. REPEAT THIS PROCESS ONCE MORE TO FORM THE BASE OF THE PIE.
• Spread 1/3 of the chicken filling into the pan on top of the buttered phyllo dough.
• Now, repeat the buttering-layering-spreading process TWICE more, allowing the corners of the phyllo dough sheets to hang over the edge of the pan.
• Once the last layer of filling is in the pan, fold the hanging corners of the phyllo dough over the filling, making a kind of nest around the filling inside the pan. Then, repeat the buttering processing TWICE more, covering the filling completely with the last four sheets of phyllo dough. Be sure to tuck the sheet corners around the inside of the pan so that the filling is completely encased in dough.
• Transfer the pie pan on the lined baking sheet to the oven and bake until dough is golden and filling is set, 30-35 minutes.
• Remove baking sheet and pan from oven and let cool for about 15 minutes, then carefully unmold the springform pan from around the base.
• Sprinkle the pie with the powdered sugar and cinnamon; serve while warm.

Notes

Make sure you place the filled springform pan on a lined baking sheet before placing it in the oven. The pan did leak quite a bit while it baked.

I found ras el hanout at my local supermarket chain store for relatively cheap. However, if you want to make the spice yourself, you can use this recipe: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/ras-el-hanout-101070

This recipe is an adapted version of Moroccan Pigeon Pie Bstilla from Saveur: https://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/moroccan-pigeon-pie-bstilla