Pastilla Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
• In large mixing bowl, combine noodles, butter, sugar, milk, cream, anise, vanilla, eggs and ricotta. Spoon into 9x13 inch baking dish and bake for 1 1/4 hours, until golden and knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool and serve.

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:

• THE CRUST: If frozen, thaw out 1/2 pound (half a package) philo dough in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours.
• THE MEAT FILLING: In a large pan, combine 4 chicken breasts (cubed); 1 small onion (coarsely chopped); 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoons fresh thyme (or 1/8 teaspoons dried); and 2 cups of water. At this point, you could also add any vegetables you like such as mushrooms (sliced); green peas, a potato (peeled and cubed); a carrot (peeled and diced); kernels of corn; etc. Bring to a boil and then simmer until the vegetables and meat are thoroughly cooked (20-30 minutes).
• THE NUTS: Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Place 1 cup almonds (finely chopped) in a shallow baking pan. Bake, stirring occasionally until golden brown (10-15 minutes). Cool.
• THE SPICES: In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger, and 1/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg.
• THE ONION MIXTURE: In a large frying pan, cook 1 small onion (finely chopped), in 3 tablespoons butter or margarine until limp but not browned.
• THE OTHER FILLING: In a medium bowl, whisk together 6 eggs; 2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped); 1 teaspoons salt; 1/4 teaspoons black pepper (freshly ground); and 2 tablespoons fresh mild mint or parsley (chopped). Add to the ONION MIXTURE (from above) and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until eggs are softly set. Remove from heat.
• THE PASTILLA: Melt 1 cup butter or margarine. Use a brush to grease a 9-inch springform pan generously. Unroll the sheets of the phyllo dough so that they lie flat. Cover the dough with waxed paper and a wet paper towel so that they don't dry out. Line the pan with 1 sheet of dough, allowing the dough to extend over the edge of the pan. Brush the piece of dough generously with butter. Top with another piece of dough and brush with butter. Continue this until you have 8 layers of butter-brushed phyllo dough.
• FILLING THE PASTILLA: For the filling, add a layer of THE MEAT FILLING (from above), THE OTHER FILLING (from above), and then THE NUTS (from above). Sprinkle THE SPICES (from above) over the nuts.
• Fold the remaining sheets of phyllo dough to fit the pan. Reserve 2 sheets for the topping. Stack the phyllo over THE NUTS, brushing each layer with butter. Fold the edges of the phyllo that extend beyond the pan in toward the center. Top with the last 2 sheets of phyllo, folded to fit the pan; tuck any protruding edges down inside the rim of the pan. Brush with the remaining butter.
• Using a razor blade or small sharp knife, cut through the top layers of the dough down to THE NUTS to mark the pie in 8 wedge shapes.
• Bake until well browned and heated through (45 minutes to an hour).
• Remove the pan sides.
• Sift confectioner's sugar and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon over the top.
• Serve immediately, cut into the marked wedges.

Steps:

• 6 ramekins (4-inch diameter by 3-inch depth) or 9 to 10-inch deep dish pie pan.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Season all the vegetables with salt and pepper and grill, keeping them separate. Cook the couscous separately, as instructed, and reserve in a ceramic mold. In the ramekins or pie pan, place 2 sheets of filo, buttering between layers. Begin to layer all vegetables, ending with the couscous. In between each layer add pressure in order to mold. Fold flaps of filo over to seal. Seal with butter, turn out onto a sheet pan, and brush top with butter. Bake for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and ground cinnamon. If using a pie pan, cut into wedges and serve.

Steps:

• Soak the dried apricots and raisins in the red wine until they plump up, or at least for 1 hour.
• Heat the olive oil in a large lidded frying pan, stir the cumin seeds and 1 tsp dried coriander into the oil and allow spices to sizzle for a few seconds before adding the onion; fry gently until the onion just begins to soften.
• Add the mushrooms to the pan, stir, then place the lid on the pan; leave the mixture to cook on a low heat for 3 to 5 minutes until the mushroom slices soften and start to absorb the oil.
• Remove pan from heat, then pour the fruity wine mixture over the contents of the frying pan; return the pan to the heat, replace lid and leave to simmer for 5 minutes.
• Take the lid off the pan and continue cooking the mushroom mixture, taking care not to let the contents of the pan dry out completely (but feel free to add a drop of water - or more wine - if it does look too dry!); remove pan from the heat when the juices and wine have reduced down to a sauce that coats the mushroom mixture; replace pan lid and set the mixture aside.
• Melt the 1/4 cup of butter and brush some over the surface of a straight sided round baking tin, measuring 2 inches deep and 7 inches across.
• Reserving a few sheets of phyllo for the top of the pie (keep them covered until you are ready to close up the pie) line the tin with the phyllo, brushing each sheet with the melted butter (but remembering to save some for the top of the pies) and placing sheets evenly round the tin and so that they overhang the edges; the base and sides of the pie should be leak-proof.
• Spoon the mushroom mixture into the pie shell.
• Beat the eggs, heat the remaining 1 tbsp butter in a pan, add the eggs and scramble them lightly; remove from the heat while they are still slightly runny and stir in a good 'grind' of black pepper; pour the scrambled eggs over the mushroom mixture in the pie shell.
• Mix the powdered sugar and toasted flaked almonds together with the remaining 1tsp of dried coriander; sprinkle it evenly over the scrambled egg.
• Now finish constructing the pie by bringing the edges of the phyllo sheets up over the top of the pie, brushing them with the melted butter as you work; tuck the last sheets of phyllo over the top of the pie, score a diamond pattern with a sharp knife then brush with last drops of melted butter.
• Cook the pie in a preheated oven at 375°F/190°C for about 20 minutes until the top is is golden.
• Remove from the tin carefully and dust lightly with powdered sugar.
• NB: This recipe measures in Australian cups, which at 250 ml per cup, are a bit bigger than American cup sizes; there shouldn't be a noticeable difference, especially for the 1/4 cup measurements, but if you are using an American cup you might like to be slightly generous in your measuring.

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.