The B'stilla recipe is pretty easy to follow but it took quite a while from start to finish to complete all of the steps. Julie said that the hardest/ickiest part about the getting ready for the marinade was taking the skin off the chicken (we'd both suggest buying boneless, skinless meat the next time). Be sure to drain the broth into a metal pan so that you can use your whisk. It took quite a while for the broth to reduce to 1 cup (about 20 minutes). She rough chopped the onions and I thought the pieces might be too big for the "pie" but I didn't notice them at all when eating. About halfway through dinner, Julie realized she'd forgotten to put the saffron in the marinade. The dish was plenty tasty without it so if you don't want to spend the $$, don't worry about it. Also, lacking a springform pan, we used a deep dish pie plate and everything turned out fine. We didn't bother cutting the filo dough for the top-- just tucked it in around the edges and crimped a little.
The Chicken B'Stilla was very good (and even better the next day reheated in the oven). I didn't have anything to compare it to but Julie has had this dish before in a fancy restaurant. She liked this recipe better because she didn't have to pick out the raisins. :-) We served it with some roasted cherry tomatoes and green beans-- using the Tomatoes provençal recipe on p. 394.
Between the three of us, we devoured about half the pie... but we were pretty hungry since it took longer than we'd planned for to get everything done. I'd say it makes for 6 hearty servings or 8-10 lighter servings with extra sides as a main dish. I can't imagine going to all the trouble to serve it as a first course. We also thought it might turn out well in individual triangle servings with the filo dough (as an appetizer or party food).
The best part of it all was sharing time in the kitchen with my sister and showing her all the great recipes in Around my French Table.
I'm so glad to hear that this can be reheated! I loved it. It's so nice that you could share it ... and the book ... with your sister.
ReplyDeleteHow fun to share cooking (and eating) with your sister!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I too am glad to hear that it reheats well because I've got half of it left. Also, I agree about the icky taking the skin off the chicken part. It was pretty gross. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's so lovely that your sister and you cook together! It's a delicious dish, no?
ReplyDeleteWhat fun to do it together - glad it worked out so well. I did the "tuck" thing as well and I thought it came out just fine that way.
ReplyDeleteWe had about 1/2 the pie left over and we also enjoyed it reheated. Most of the dough seemed to melt into the chicken mixture (except the top) and was great the next day. I would like this chicken as a filling for appetizers, etc...could be used in many ways...I like your ideas for the triangles.
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