Friday, January 28, 2011

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.

11 comments:

  1. Oh, I'm so glad someone did the bundles! I was thinking about that when I was making the pie, and how fun that would be as an appetizer type of thing. Also, I really like the idea of adding some cayenne! For the other spices, I think it's an issue of personal taste, but I did find that mine became pretty concentrated when I reduced the broth (I did strain out the onions, which left a lot of the spices in the broth). Thanks for the info! And did you bake the bundles at the same temp as the recipe states?

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  2. Wow, Candy! Your B'stilla looks great - I love the bundles! I also thought it re-heated well.

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  3. Beautiful! I think I'll try bundles of something with my left over filo.

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  4. Great idea to make bundles! How many did you end up with?

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  5. Too funny about the pan sizes. I LOVE that you did bundles! The b'stilla looks wonderful that way!

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  6. Glad you liked the bundles! Thanks, everyone!!

    I baked the bundles at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, put a little foil loosely draped over the top and then baked at 350 for 20 minutes more.

    I only did 1/3 of the recipe, so I think you could easily do 6 servings (as Dorie notes) with the full recipe. It just takes more filo dough. But I think it makes the presentation pretty festive!

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  7. The other thing I thought would work for this is to do little tri-corner packages - using the buttered filo, folding the filling up like a flag. Then it would really be finger-food! You could do appetizer size, or full-size. Just a thought!!

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  8. Bundles were a Great. Great. Great. Idea.
    That would be so fun for a dinner party or a special occasion.

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  9. WOW! I love your bundles!!! And I was also thinking the same thing about the spices...needs a bit more of everything and I was also considering cayenne. We all loved this recipe, however, I think it can be even better. And next time, I will try the bundles. Exceptional!

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  10. The bundles were a GREAT idea! Will need to try that next time, might make the darn filo dough a little easier to handle!

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  11. Bundles looks the way to go! Bravo, these are amazing. I will make these again and when I do it will be to emulate these!

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