Bastilla

Filling

• chicken thighs800 g
• onions3
• saffron threads1 pinch
• ground ginger1 tsp
• ground cinnamon1 tsp
• coriander1 small bunch
• flat-leaf parsley1 small bunch
• eggs6
• butter180 g
• lemons1
• salt
• water200 ml

Almonds and pastry

• blanched almonds200 g
• icing sugar90 g
• orange blossom water1 tbsp
• filo pastry300 g
• ground cinnamon1 tsp

Filling

1. 01

   Finely chop the onions and cook them with the bone-in chicken thighs, the saffron, ginger, cinnamon, 40 g of the butter and 200 ml of water, covered, for 40 minutes, until the meat comes away from the bone.

2. 02

   Lift the chicken out, strip the meat from the bones and shred it.

3. 03

   Reduce the onion mixture hard until almost dry, then chop the coriander and parsley and stir them in with the juice of the lemon, and season with salt.

4. 04

   Beat the eggs, pour them in and stir over low heat until they set into a soft, dry curd. Any wetness here soaks the pastry later.

Almonds and assembly

5. 05

   Fry the almonds in 20 g of the butter until golden, cool, then blitz with 60 g of the icing sugar and the orange blossom water to a coarse rubble.

6. 06

   Heat the oven to 190°C and melt the rest of the butter. Brush a round tin with it and lay filo sheets over it in a star, overhanging generously, brushing each with the melted butter.

7. 07

   Layer in the egg curd, then the shredded chicken, then the almond mixture.

8. 08

   Fold the overhanging pastry over the top, cover with two more buttered sheets and tuck them down the sides.

9. 09

   Bake at 190°C for 35 to 40 minutes until deep gold and crisp all over.

10. 10

    Turn out, dust heavily with the rest of the icing sugar and draw lines of cinnamon across the top.