ffwd - chicken b'stilla

I'll admit it, I thought about skipping this one. Between the P&Q comments, and generally having a busy week - I was tempted to pass. Of course, my inner rule-follower prevailed. But I decided to split the recipe, and then the whole baking pan size business sent me in another direction as well ( what is it with the pan sizes...? I'm teaching some friends to make the double chocolate mousse cake this weekend, so stopped to see if I could find another 8" spingform pan. I actually have one that measures 8". But the ones at my local fancy kitchenware store said they were 8" (2 brands!), but were really 7"!!! what's up with that? Now I understand why there's been so much angst with the ffwd group and the pan sizes. Good grief! Can't manufacturers measure any more? Oh, and it makes me wonder which "8-inch" pan Dorie's been using?).

So anyway, I too ended up making this over a couple of evenings. Admittedly, it wasn't difficult. I thought the combination of flavors might be good too. As usual, Dorie was correct - this is pretty good!


OK, I admit it, I forgot to take my first picture for a little bit.
chicken thighs, onions, garlic, spices
this all goes on the stove for a bit of a simmer in some chicken broth
after that step was complete, I refrigerated the chicken and broth separately



about to reduce the broth, with its added squeeze of lemon
admittedly, I will never become a "real" French cook, because I'm unwilling to do
some of the little things - yes, those are onions in there - no, I did not strain them out to add back later!



the reduced broth, ready to thicken with the whole egg
it was a really nice sauce at this point



after thickening with the egg, in go the chopped fresh herbs and shredded chicken



since I was doing bundles, instead of the cake - I just layered 4 sheets of filo, each brushed with butter
then put some of the filling, along with the sliced almonds into the center
maybe it was the bundles, but I used more than my fair share of butter, and the filo was not evenly covered



the filling "bundled-up", brushed with butter, and sprinkled with a little
cinnamon sugar, ready for the oven



looking delicious, just out of the oven



ready to eat, beautiful brown pastry, surrounding the chicken filling

I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. The Moroccan spices made for a very nice combination. If I made this again, I'd probably add a bit more of everything, and maybe a pinch of cayenne. I also might change how the sauce was thickened, but it was really quite tasty, and once it was in the pastry and baked, it didn't matter. And I have to say that I think the bundles were awfully cute! They were really easy to do, and made for a festive presentation. The only problem is that there's a fair bit of soft dough where the package comes together. But I didn't think that it detracted too much. Also, with the bundles, they actually re-heated perfectly! That was a nice surprise.