Baked Chicken Recipes

Oven Chicken Recipes: Moroccan Chicken Pie (Bastilla)

February 22nd, 2010

This is one of those oven chicken recipes that I attempted when I was first getting serious about cooking. It is an exotic phyllo pastry pie that envelopes almonds, eggs and cooked chicken that is seasoned with cinnamon and saffron and it is dusted with confectioner’s sugar and more cinnamon. I was so intrigued and I just had to try it. I must have had almost every pot and pan I owned needing a washing by the time I was done making this. I had a very complicated recipe.

Traditionally, Bastilla – one of Morocco’s oven chicken recipes – was made with squab. These days we find it most often made with chicken and it is usually served as a first course. In Morroco, they use a pastry dough that is even thinner than our phyllo – if you can even imagine such a thing. It is called Warqa, but our supermarket phyllo works just fine.

This is a very unusual dish and your guests will be delighted by the unusual and delicious combination of flavors in this pie. I doubt if they have even had this combination of flavors unless they have tasted Bastilla before. We have cinnamon, saffron, ginger, black pepper, white pepper, coriander, and more! You can make this ahead and keep it covered in the refrigerator if you wish.

While searching for Bastilla recipes online, I ran aross this adorable guy named Pete. He shows you how he makes his Bastilla and his recipe is almost identical to the one I now use. He has lots of nice color photos to show you how it should look at various stages. You can click here to go see Pete and his Bastilla. Isn’t he cute?

I found one other Bastilla recipe that I would recommend and you can click here to see that one.
You can check them both out and see which you would prefer making.

One fun thing to do just before serving your bastilla is to sift the powdered sugar over the top of the baked pie. Then, using a stencil over the pie – wax paper with a design cut into it works fine – sprinkle cinnamon over the stencil and lift it off gently. This is one of those oven chicken recipes that people will always remember enjoying for the first time! Watch pretty Alia make Bastilla! Click here!