Bastilla - country living

12 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
2 tablespoons Olive oil
2 Small (about 3/4 lb each) whole chicken breasts
1½ cup Chopped onions
3 Cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon Finely chopped peeled fresh gingerroot
2 teaspoons Ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ground cumin
1 teaspoon Ground coriander
½ teaspoon Red pepper
½ teaspoon Turmeric
¼ teaspoon Ground saffron (see Note)
1 cup Reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons Chopped fresh coriander leaves
1 tablespoon Chopped fresh parsley leaves
7 Large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Ground black pepper
Topping (recipe follows)
24 17-by 12-inch phyllo (strudel) leaves, thawed if frozen (about 1 lb)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
Confectioners' sugar (opt.)
Ground cinnamon (opt.)

Directions

1. In large skillet or 5-quart Dutch oven, heat 1 T 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.

2. In same large skillet, add onions, garlic, ginger, and remaining 1 T 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.

3. Increase heat to high. Add broth, fresh coriander, and parsley to skillet with onion mixture. Heat to boiling, stiffing to combine.

Return chicken to skillet, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes or until chicken is tender.

4. 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. Meanwhile, prepare Topping.

5. When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove and discard skin and bones. Tear chicken into 2-inch-long strips.

6. 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).

7. On center of phyllo, in even layers, arrange half of 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. 8. Continue to butter and arrange the remaining 12 phyllo sheets in the same pinwheel fashion over top of bastilla (as in Step 6). Carefully tuck the overhanging ends underneath it. Brush top and side of bastilla with butter. Cover loosely with foil. (Or refrigerate two hours or up to 2 days before baking.)

9. Heat oven to 350'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.

10. If desired, sprinkle confectioners' sugar and ground cinna- mon in stripes on top of bastilla.

Note: Ground saffron is available in specialty-food shops. If you can't find it, crumble the commonly found saffron threads before measuring.

Topping: Heat oven to 375'F. Spread 1½ C slivered blanched almonds on ungreased baking sheet and place in oven 7 minutes or until lightly toasted. In food processor with chopping blade, process almonds with 2 T sugar and 2 t ground cinnamon until coarsely ground.

Nutrition information per serving-protein: 27 grams; fat: 34 grams; carbohydrate: 31 gram; Fiber: 3 grams; sodium: 678 milligrams; cholesterol: 210 milligrams; calories: 519.

Country Living/Feb/94 Scanned & fixed by DP & GG

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