Bisteeya (Morocco) Pt 1

Recipe look good to you?     

Bisteeya (Morocco) Pt 1 Ingredients

6 Squab pigeons; or 5 pounds	3 Cinnamon sticks
5 Cloves garlic; peeled	1 c Butter
Salt	1/4 c Salad oil
1 c Chopped parsley; mixed with	1 lb Whole; blanched almonds
1 Spanish onion; grated	Ground cinnamon
1 pn Pulverized saffron	1/4 c Lemon juice
1/4 ts Turmeric	10 Eggs
1 ts Freshly ground black pepper	1/2 lb Phyllo pastry or strudel
1 ts Ground ginger

Instructions for Bisteeya (Morocco) Pt 1

This is my absolute favorite recipe, but its rather involved (for me anyway hehe) I dont make it nearly as often as I would like to eat it :-) I always use chicken as I dont have any pigeons handy, and Ive never been able to find saffron and even if I could I understand itd cost my kids college tuition to pay for it. I also always use the phyllo, as its readily available. I got the recipe from "Couscous and other Good Food from Morocco" by Paula Wolfert. (Which by the way is a wonderfully informative book if youre at all interested in Morroccan customs etc.) 1. Wash the poultry well and pull out as much fat as possible from the cavities. Crush the garlic and make a paste of it with 2 tablespoons salt. Rub the poultry with the paste, then rinse well and drain. Put the squabs or chickens in a 5 1/2 quart casserole with the giblets, herbs, onion, spices, half the butter, a little salt, and 3 cups water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour. 2. Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in the skillet and brown the almonds lightly. Drain on paper towels. When cool, crush them with a rolling pin until coarsely ground, or run them through a nut grinder. Combine the almonds with 1/2 cup confectioners sugar and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. Set aside. 3. Remove the poultry, giblets, cinnamon sticks, and any loose bones from the casserole and set aside. By boiling rapidly, uncovered, reduce the sauce in the casserole to approximately 1 3/4 cups, then add the lemon juice. Beat the eggs until frothy, then pour into the simmering sauce and stir continuously until the eggs cook and congeal. (They should become curdy, stiff, and dry.) Taste for salt and set aside. 4. Remove all the bones from the squabs or chickens. Shred the poultry into 1 1/2 inch pieces and chop the giblets coarsely. 5. Heat the remaining butter. When the foam subsides, clarify it by pouring off the clear liquid butter into a small bowl and discarding the milky solids. Up to this point the dish can be prepared in advance, even the day before. 6. Preheat the oven to 425 7.Unroll the pastry leaves, keeping them under a damp towel to prevent them from drying out. Brush some of the clarified butter over the bottom and sides of a 13 inch cake pan, or pizza pan, or paella pan, then cover the bottom of the pan with a pastry leaf. Arrange 6 more leaves so that they half cover the bottom of the pan and half extend over the sides. (The entire bottom of the pan should be covered.) Brush the extended leaves with butter so they do not dry out. (If you are using warka, arrange about 15 to 18 leaves around the bottom and sides; there is no need to butter extended leaves) 8. Fold 4 leaves in half and bake in the oven for 30 seconds, or until crisp but not too browned, or fry the leaves on an oiled skillet. (this is unnecessary if using warka.) 9. Place chunks of poultry and giblets around the inner edges of the pan, then work toward the center so that the pastry is covered with a layer of shredded poultry. Cover this layer with the well-drained egg mixture from step 3, and the four baked or fried pastry leaves. 10. Sprinkle the almond-sugar mixture over the pastry. Cover with all but 2 of the remaining pastry leaves, brushing each very lightly with butter. 11.Fold the overlapping leaves in over the top to cover the pie. Brush lightly with butter. Put the remaining 2 leaves over the top, lightly buttering each, and fold these neatly under the pie (like continued in part 2

Main Ingredient: Cuisine: Uncategorized

More like this...

Bisteeya (Morocco) Pt 2

Bisteeya

Chicken Morocco

Lamb and Pear Tagine (Morocco)

Thick Chickpea And Meat Soup - Hareera (Morocco)