Bastilla

Recipe taken from Moroccan Modern by Hassan M'Souli
I have included the recipe as given in the book with my alterations in parenthesis.

Ingredients

Chicken
3 lb whole chicken (in the future I would just use chicken breast to save time)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 brown onion, diced (yellow)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon saffron threads (1/2 teaspoon turmeric)
2 bay leaves
1 preserved Lemon (some lemon juice)
3 cups water (I used only two)
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Creamy eggs
6 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup orange blossom water (watered down orange juice)

Glazed onion
1/2 orange blossom water
1 brown onion, halved and finely sliced
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup toasted flaked almonds
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

7 tablespoons butter (I used only 3 or 4)
1 tablespoon orange blossom water
Filo pastry
2 tablespoons confectioners sugar, to dust
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
orange segments and strawberries, to garnish

Cut the chicken into quarters. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onion, garlic, and ginger, fry for a minute then add the saffron, bay leaves and lemon. Fry for about 3 minutes, until softened slightly.

Add the chicken and cover with water. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for about 20 minutes, until coked. Remove the chicken from the pan. Allow to cool, then pull the meat off the bones and slice it into strips.

Boil the sauce until reduced by half. Take out half and reserve for later.

To make the creamy eggs, add the eggs, cilantro, salt and orange water to the remaining sauce in the saucepan. Stir over low heat until creamy, taking care not to over cook. Remove from heat and set aside.

For the glazed onion, place the reserved sauce and the orange blossom water into a frying pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, until reduced further. Add the onion, confectioners' sugar, and cinnamon and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the almonds, stir through, and set aside.

Preheat over to 350. Melt the butter and combine with orange juice. Brush two trays with some of the orange butter. Layer 9 sheets of filo pastry in a fan pattern covering the tray and overhanging the sides. Fold another sheet in half and place in the center. Spoon on the glazed onion mixture, fold over 3 sheets of the overhanging filo to cover, place another folded sheet in the center and brush with orange butter.

Spoon on the creamy eggs to make another layer. Fold over 3 more sheets of overhanging filo, place another folded sheet in the center and brush with orange butter.

Add the chicken to make another layer and cover with folded remaining filo sheets. Fold over remaining 3 sheets of overhanging filo and brush with orange butter.

Bake in the oven until the pastry has browned on the top. Turn on the other tray, brush with orange butter and cook to brown the underside. ( I did not do this because mine was not flat more dome-ish. It seemed to brown fine on the bottom.)

Transfer to a serving tray and duct with sugar and cinnamon and garnish with orange and strawberry segments.