Vegetarian Bastilla

Bastilla is a Moroccan pastry; it is also called pigeon pie, because it traditionally contains pigeon meat. Obviously, I did not include pigeons in my version of it.

I would recommend setting aside about an hour for prep time, and make sure you start with a clean kitchen that has your utensils and cooking dishes clean.

The ingredients are divided according to how they are put together. Read through the entire directions at least once before starting.

SO, you will need:

1 package phyllo sheets, thawed (put the frozen package in the refrigerator overnight; leave in the refrigerator until you get to the step that asks for it)

1 stick butter, halved, plus one tablespoon (you'll use part for one purpose, part for another)

1/2 Vidalia onion, finely chopped
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon dry or 1 tablespoon fresh ginger
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 package Quorn tenders, finely chopped

6 eggs
3 scallions, finely sliced
1/2 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (can substitute cilantro if you like cilantro)

1 1/2 cup almonds (unsalted, and you can use whole or sliced)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
extra cinnamon

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Do all of the chopping of ingredients, then preheat the oven to 400ºF

Put the almonds, granulated sugar, and 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a food processor until the almonds are well crushed. It is okay if there are a few pea-sized chunks, but you generally want them smaller than that. Set the almond/sugar mixture aside for now.

Melt half a stick of butter in a large skillet, then sautee the onion, shallot, turmeric, ginger, pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in the butter until the onions are translucent.

Stir the Quorn into the onion mixture and cook until hot and very slightly browned in some places. You may need to dribble in a couple tablespoons of water to keep it from getting too dry to cook.

Put the Quorn mixture into a bowl and set aside (alternatively, get out another skillet for the next step).

Melt a tablespoon of butter in the skillet, then scramble the eggs and cook them. When they are partway done, fold in the parsley and scallions. Cook until the eggs are done, then add the Quorn mixture to the eggs and mix them together, then remove from heat and set aside.

Now, you should have a skillet of egg/Quorn stuff, and a bowl of almond/sugar stuff. At this point, you may cover and refrigerate them to use later; you might even want to do this for half of them, because the recipe makes two large pastries.

Melt the remaining butter in a bowl. Get out two pie pans and brush butter on their bottoms.

Very gently open the package of phyllo dough (do not open it early; it dries out FAST) and unroll a sheaf of pastry leaves. They will resemble very fine sheets of paper. Take two sheets and layer them so that one covers half the pan (with the edges hanging out over the sides), while the other covers the other half. Layer more sheets on top of these in the same fashion until it seems fairly sturdy (if using Athenos brand, you'll use maybe 6-8 sheets if they are the little 8x10 sheets). If you're using larger, thicker sheets, you may be able to use just two. *

Once BOTH pie pans have been prepared with phyllo dough, get out your bowls of egg/Quorn stuff and almond stuff. Starting with the almond mixture, alternately layer some of each mixture in the pie pans. Try to spread them such that you get about four layers total (two almond, two quorn) in each pan. You don't have to be exact here, and the layers are going to blend together. That's okay.

The phyllo that is hanging over the edges of the pie pans should now be folded over the top of the fillings. Use a pastry brush to brush melted butter on top of the folded phyllo.

Pop those suckers in the oven for fifteen minutes, or until the dough on top is golden brown.

Remove from the oven. Put a plate upside-down over the top of each pie plate, and then very carefully (this means you, Brian) turn them over so that the pastry is turned out upon the plate. Remove the pie plate (and again, carefully--use oven mitts).

You should now have a pastry on a plate. If it has been damaged by the turning out, that's fine! Cover each pastry with half of the powdered sugar (you can use a sifter or strainer to make it coat evenly), then sprinkle cinnamon on top in a criss-cross pattern (well, that's traditional, but hey, you can use a stencil to make something cuter, I suppose).

Let it cool a little bit before eating! It is HOT. It is traditional to eat it with your fingers, no utensils. I, however, give you permission to use a fork or spoon :) Also, you can cut a slit in the top before serving to let some of the heat out quicker.


* Also note that you can make mini-bastilla with ramekins, and probably just use two small sheets for that, both centered on the ramekin.