delvious

Described as a phyllo wrapped mixture of “chicken chunks with almonds, chickpeas, raisin, cinnamon and spices” on their menu, the Chicken Cilicia at La Mediterranee on College Avenue in Berkeley is delectable.  I never really considered trying to replicate it at home; cinnamon and chicken don’t usually make it into the same pot at my house.  Furthermore, wrangling phyllo dough into any sort of discernible crust seemed daunting.


When I came across the recipe for this chicken and date pastilla, however, it reminded me enough of Chicken Cilicia that I had to make it for myself.

Recipe

Check out all the spices in that bowl – aromatic garlic, savory cumin and turmeric, fragrant ginger and cloves, sweet cinnamon, spicy chili flakes and a pinch of saffron to round it out.  I love dishes that have a visual indication of just how flavorful they will be.  The filling smelled amazing as it simmered on the stove and the eggs thickened the mixture such that it would hold up in the delicate crust.


As I was olive-oiling each layer into my springform pan, I began to embrace phyllo dough.  I cheated slightly with some premade from the freezer section, but I’ve heard it’s not worth the effort to attempt making it from scratch.  It was so easy to use, in fact, that my mind has since been spinning with ways to use up the rest of the box.  Baklava or spanokopita are obvious (and delicious) choices, but I’m holding out for some sort of delvious option.  Stay tuned.


Given my reservations about the recipe I was amazed that the pastilla came out not only in one piece, but perfectly golden brown.  Sprinkled with the powdered sugar and cinnamon, it is a great dish when you’re aiming to impress.  More importantly, it was tasty enough to be served at any Mediterranean restaurant.  Some said the dates and raisins made the dish a bit too sweet; if you’re looking to make the dish more savory, I would omit some of the dried fruit.

Chicken and Date Pastilla

Adapted from Closet Cooking

Prep time + Cook time: 45 min + 40 min

Serves 6

Printable recipe

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
2 lbs skinless chicken breast
2 onions, sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cloves
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp turmeric
1 pinch saffron
2 cups chicken stock
3 eggs
1 cup dates, pitted and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup slivered toasted almonds
Salt and pepper, to taste
8 sheets phyllo dough
1/2 cup olive oil
Powdered sugar and cinnamon, to taste

Directions

1.  Heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and brown on all sides.  Remove from pan.

2.  Reduce heat to medium and add the onions.  Cook until tender (about 10 minutes).

3.  Add the garlic, cumin, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, chili flakes, turmeric and saffron.  Cook until fragrant (about 1 minute).

4.  Return the chicken to the pan and add the chicken stock.  Cover the pan and simmer until the chicken is cooked, stirring occasionally (about 30 minutes).  Remove chicken from pan to cool.

5.  Once the chicken has cooled, shred it.  Return it to the pan, and add the eggs, dates, raisins, cilantro and almonds as well.  Mix and season with salt and pepper.

6.  Preheat the oven to 375F.  Place a sheet of phyllo on your working surface and brush with olive oil.  Place a second sheet on top in the opposite direction, forming a plus sign, and brush with more olive oil.  Repeat until you have used all of the phyllo sheets and most of the 1/2 cup of olive oil.

7.  Transfer the layered phyllo into an 8 or 9 inch springform pan and fill with the chicken mixture.  Fold the overlapping phyllo over the top to form the pie.  Brush the top with the rest of the olive oil.

8.  Bake in the oven until golden brown (30 to 40 minutes).

9.  Allow to cool, and sprinkle some powdered sugar and cinnamon over the top.

Word of Warning for Springform Pans

This dish was the main course of a delvious dinner party with some high school friends I hadn’t seen in awhile.  Of course, the most logical thing to do is to set the fire alarm off (twice) in an apartment building that burned down in a fire three years ago.  To make matters worse, there was sort of domino effect of fire alarms setting off in the surrounding apartments.  Hence, I learned a valuable lesson: springform pans may say they’re leakproof, but mine certainly let some of that olive oil through its cracks to burn onto the bottom of the oven.  From now on, I’ll be wrapping the bottom in some aluminum foil or placing it on a baking sheet to avoid a repeat of that incident.

12 Comments | In: Chicken | tags: almonds, Chicken, cinnamon, dates, phyllo, raisins. | #

Sometimes I’ll come across a recipe that I just can’t get out of my head.  After reading a rave review from The Kitchn, Jaime Oliver’s recipe for Chicken in Milk became one of them for several reasons:

• Undertaking the daunting challenge of cooking a whole chicken for the first time ever to hopefully achieve a deliciously moist result;
• Putting my still-sort-of-new and beautiful Le Creuset dutch oven to good use; and
• (most importantly) Using curdled milk for sauce.

Delvious?  I had to find out.   Oliver tells us to trust him on this one, but it sort of sounds like he had gone off his rocker when he came up with the recipe.  All of us know that you’re not supposed to add both lemon and milk to your tea if you want to avoid the unappetizing curdling reaction your beverage.  Who wants their chicken covered in curds and whey?

Recipe

As it turns out, I do!  This chicken dish was aromatic and complexly flavored.  You must first brown the chicken in butter to get those all-important flavorful caramelized bits stuck on the bottom of the pot.  From there, you add the unique array of sauce components: fresh sage, whole garlic cloves, lemon zest…a pint of milk…and a cinnamon stick.  It looked beautiful although I remained skeptical.


After your chicken has disappeared into the oven , you will start to smell tantalizing things.  I basted the meat every half hour; it got harder and harder to refrain from sampling the sauce.  An hour and a half later, you have a company-worthy, one pot main course.  The meat was wonderfully moist and the sauce…oh the sauce.  The curds became a bit chewy like melted cheese, and the now translucent liquid portion of the milk was infused with the other spices.  Serve this chicken with wilted spinach and mashed potatoes like I did, and you’ll be everyone’s favorite cook.

Chicken in Milk

Adapted from Jaime Oliver

Prep time + Cook time: 15 minutes + 1 1/2 hours

Serves 4

Printable recipe

Ingredients

1 3.5 lb whole chicken, cleaned

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 c (1/2 stick) butter

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cinnamon stick

Generous handful of fresh sage leaves

Zest of 2 lemons

15 cloves of whole garlic, unpeeled (I figured you can’t go wrong with extra garlic.)

1 pint (2 cups) whole milk

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 375F.

2.  Season the chicken with plenty of salt and pepper.  In a dutch oven, melt the butter and add olive oil over medium high heat.   Fry the chicken until golden brown on all sides.

3.  Remove the chicken from the pot, and discard the extra fat.  Add the chicken back to the pot, along with the cinnamon stick, sage leaves, lemon zest, garlic cloves and milk.

4.  Bake in oven for 1 1/2 hours, basting every 30 minutes.  I followed The Kitchn’s recommendation and left the pot covered for one hour, and uncovered for a half hour.

Some Kitchen Chemistry

As it happens, there is another instance where you want to mix lemon juice and milk.  Say you wake up on a Saturday morning, craving some fluffy, homemade buttermilk pancakes.  You’ve got your pantry staples on hand…but who keeps buttermilk lying around?  Since buttermilk’s tartness comes from acidity, you can mimic that with some acidic lemon action in regular milk.

Quick Buttermilk Substitute

1.  Mix one tablespoon of lemon juice into one cup of milk.  (A tablespoon of white vinegar would work as well).

2.  Let sit for 10-15 minutes.  Stir and voila!, you’ve got buttermilk.

4 Comments | In: Chicken, Roasted | tags: cinnamon, dutch oven, garlic, lemon, milk, sage. | #