How to Make Moroccan Bisteeya

Cinnamon is a key ingredient in a Moroccan bisteeya.

The crown jewel of Moroccan cuisine is a bisteeya, a pastry pie that is traditionally made with pigeons. Both sweet and savory, traditional bisteeyas, also called a pastilla or b'steey, contain eggs, cinnamon, onions and almonds. Many online grocers and specialty markets carry pigeon meat, but chicken can also be substituted. Premade phyllo dough can be found in the refrigerated dessert aisle of most grocery stores.

Difficulty:

Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• 3 1/2 lbs. pigeon meat
• 1 whole chicken, cut in pieces, approximately 3 1/2 lbs.
• 2 1/4 lbs. phyllo dough (14 sheets)
• 3 white or yellow onions, finely chopped
• 8 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 lb. shelled almonds
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
• 1/2 bunch green coriander, chopped
• 6 oz. unsalted butter
• 1 pinch saffron stems
• 1 pinch powdered saffron
• 1 lemon, zested
• Powdered sugar
• Cinnamon for decoration
• 1 tbsp. flour
• 16-inch diameter pie tin
• Bowls
• Fork or whisk

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Melt 1 1/2 oz. of unsalted butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Place the chicken or pigeon meat in the pan and brown. Add the onion, spices, parsley and coriander to the pan and saute for approximately 10 minutes. Cover the chicken or pigeon meat with water or chicken broth, reduce heat then cover the pan with a lid and simmer until the meat is cooked.

2. Blanch the almonds while the meat mixture cooks in the pan. Bring a pot of water to a boil, then boil the almonds for one minute. Drain the almonds and remove the skins from the almond meat - they should slide off easily. If almonds are still slippery and wet after peeling, pat them dry with a paper towel. Toast the almonds lightly, then chop coarsely.

3. Remove the chicken or pigeon meat from the saute pan once the bird is tender to the fork. Set the meat aside on a platter. Add the zest of one lemon to the sauce and increase the heat, bringing the sauce to a low boil. Continue to cook for approximately 15 minutes to reduce the sauce until the liquid is nearly gone. While the sauce reduces, cut the meat off of the bones and chop finely. Stir the chopped meat into the sauce, add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Drain the meat mixture in a colander, reserving the pigeon or chicken and onions in one bowl and the sauce in another bowl. Return the sauce to the pan over low heat, then beat eight eggs in a separate bowl. Stir the beaten eggs into the sauce and cook until the eggs set into long threads. Pour it back into the bowl used to reserve the sauce.

5. Whisk the two egg yolks and flour together until well combined. Coat the phyllo dough with the egg yolks, then press three sheets around the sides of a large 16-inch generously buttered pie pan. The edges of the phyllo sheets will flop over the edges of the pan. Create an overlapping ring of phyllo dough inside the edge of the pan with three more sheets of phyllo dough. Fill in the center of the pan with two sheets of dough.

6. Spread the chopped almonds over the bottom layers of phyllo dough. Layer the meat and onion mixture on top of the almond layer, then top the pigeon or chicken with the eggs and sauce. Layer the remaining six sheets of phyllo dough on top of the eggs and sauce. Fold the edges up and brush with additional egg mixture to seal the pie. Brush the entire bisteeya with melted butter.

7. Bake the bisteeya for 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven, then dust with powdered sugar. Designs can be drawn on the surface of the powdered sugar with additional cinnamon powder.

Tips & Warnings

• You can skip beating and adding the eggs to the sauce in step four by hard-boiling eight eggs the night before you prepare the bisteeya. Shell them and slice the eggs into rounds. Assemble the bisteeya with the almonds, chicken, a layer of hard-boiled eggs and sauce. Cover with phyllo and bake as directed.

References

• "Moroccan Cooking"; Chicken and Almond Pastilla; Paolo Pizzaesi
• The World Wide Gourmet; Pastilla - Moroccan Pigeon Pie Recipe; Michele Serre
• Italian Dessert Recipes; How to Blanch Almonds; Lisa Marietta Gianotti
• La Tartine Gourmande; An Air of Morocco with a Chicken Pastilla; February 25, 2007