Chicken Pastilla Recipes

Steps:

• Make the chicken filling: Season the chicken thighs generously on both sides with salt and pepper; go heavy on the pepper. Set aside.
• Put olive oil in a wide, deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion, season with salt, and cook, stirring, until softened and beginning to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic, turmeric, saffron, ginger, allspice and cinnamon, and stir to combine.
• Place seasoned chicken thighs on top of onion mixture, add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a brisk simmer, cover with lid ajar and cook until chicken is tender, about 30 minutes.
• Remove thighs from pot and let cool. Continue to cook onion mixture until all broth has evaporated and only onion remains. Turn off heat and let onions cool.
• Remove and discard skin and bones from chicken thighs. Tear thigh meat into 1-inch strips and add to onion mixture. Add raisins and toss to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning. (Chicken can be prepared in advance until this point.)
• Put ricotta in a bowl and add mint, preserved lemon, lemon juice, lemon zest and a little salt. Stir to combine, and set aside. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
• Remove phyllo from package, unroll to make a flat stack and cover with a damp kitchen towel. Assemble the pie: Brush bottom and sides of a 12-inch paella pan or low, round earthenware casserole with warm melted butter. Lay 2 sheets of phyllo side by side in pan, overlapping in the middle by 1 inch, pressing down in the center so phyllo lines bottom of pan, leaving the excess hanging over the sides. Butter the sheets from the center all the way to the edges.
• Repeat the process with 2 more sheets of phyllo, set at a slight angle to the first layer. Paint this layer with butter all the way to the edges. Repeat, setting the pastry again at a slight angle to the previous layer, so the overhanging edges make a complete circle by the end of the process. Make 7 buttered layers of 2 sheets each.
• Fill the pie: Sprinkle the bottom of the pan with half the almonds and pistachios. Spread the chicken mixture evenly across the pan. Drop spoonsful of the ricotta mixture over the chicken mixture. Top the ricotta layer with remaining pistachios and almonds.
• Close the pie by folding all the overhanging phyllo sheets gently toward the center of the pan, pressing to enclose the filling. Brush more butter over the top and tuck in and smooth any stray phyllo.
• Bake the pie for 35 to 40 minutes, until nicely browned and crisp. To unmold, invert pie onto a cool baking sheet, exposing the flat top (formerly the bottom) of the pie. With spatulas, carefully transfer pie to a serving platter.
• Put confectioners' sugar in a mesh strainer, and shake to cover the pie generously, like a thin layer of fallen snow. Cut into wedges to serve, but for the best experience, forgo the fork, and eat the pie with your fingers.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Coat a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray.
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and ginger and cook 3 minutes, or until soft. Add cumin, coriander, cinnamon, salt, and black pepper and cook 1 minute, until spices are fragrant. Add chicken, olives and dates and cook 1 minute to heat through. Remove from heat.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and broth. Add to chicken mixture.
• Arrange 1 sheet of phyllo in the bottom of pie plate, allowing dough to hang over the edges. Spray with cooking spray and then top with another sheet of phyllo dough. Top with 1/3 of chicken mixture. Fold overhanging dough over chicken filling. Continue layering, using all sheets, 2 at a time, ending with phyllo dough, fold top sheets over, to cover the filling so nothing is hanging over the sides. Spray the surface with cooking spray and top with almonds. Bake 15 minutes, until golden brown. Sift confectioners' sugar over top just before serving.
• Note: Keep phyllo sheets moist in between use so they do not dry out. Cover them with a damp towel or cloth.

Steps:

• Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large casserole dish and cook the onion and garlic for 8 mins until soft. Add the spices and stir for about 30 seconds until aromatic, then add the chicken. Pour in the chicken stock and season. Cover with a lid and leave to simmer for 45 mins, or until the chicken is tender.
• Lift the chicken pieces onto a plate. Add the honey and almonds to the cooking liquid and simmer until thick and reduced by half, then turn off the heat. Meanwhile, finely shred the chicken with two forks, discarding the skin and bones. Return the chicken to the sauce and stir in the lemon zest and juice, apricots and parsley, then leave to cool. Can be chilled for up to two days.
• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 with a baking sheet on the middle shelf. Unwrap the pastry, keeping any you're not working with under a damp tea towel so it doesn't dry out. Brush a 22-23cm springform or loose-bottomed round tin with a little oil. Push two pastry sheets into the tin to line the base, brushing them with melted butter and leaving a little extra up the sides. Repeat this with two more sheets across the other diameter of the tin so all sides are lined. Patch up any holes or thin patches with another sheet of buttered pastry.
• Spoon in the chicken mixture and pat down evenly. Sit another two sheets of pastry on top, brushing the melted butter between the layers again, and scrunching the edges of the pastry around the sides. Brush the top with a little more butter and bake on the heated baking sheet for 30 mins until crisp and golden brown. It's best eaten warm, so leave to cool for about 30 mins. Dust with a pinch of icing sugar and cinnamon to serve, if you like.

Steps:

• Heat 1 tbsp butter in a large casserole dish, add the onion, ginger and garlic, and cook for 5 mins until soft. Add the cinnamon, the cardamom seeds and the turmeric. Stir around the pan for 30 secs until aromatic, then add the chicken and flour. Stir to coat the chicken pieces, then add the chicken stock and season. Stir, cover with a lid and leave to simmer for 45 mins.
• Remove the lid from the pan and lift the chicken pieces onto a plate. Add the honey and almonds to the cooking liquid and turn up the heat. Bubble the liquid until thick and reduced by about half. Meanwhile, finely shred the chicken with 2 forks. Return the chicken to the sauce and stir in the orange zest, apricots, flaked almonds and parsley - the mixture should be quite thick. Leave to cool.
• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Unwrap the pastry, keeping any you're not working with under a damp tea towel, so it doesn't dry out. Taking one piece at a time, brush all over with the melted butter, and around the edges with the beaten egg. Put roughly a sixth of the chicken filling in the top right-hand corner in a triangular shape. Fold the opposite side of the pastry over to cover the filling. Keep flipping the encased filing down the pastry, brushing between the layers with butter as you go, to give you a triangular parcel, like a large samosa. Repeat with the remaining pastry and filling until you have 6 pastillas. Put the pastillas on a baking tray and brush the tops with egg. Bake for 25 mins until the pastry is crisp and golden.
• For an authentic finish, mix together the remaining cinnamon and icing sugar, and dust the pastillas just before serving.