Bstilla - Food For The Gods

Ingredients
1 large Chicken
2 teaspoons Butter
1 large finely chopped Onion
Salt And Pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground Ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground Allspice
3 teaspoons finely chopped Parsley
8 Eggs
6 oz melted Butter
16 sheets Filo Pastry
1 teaspoon Sugar
1/4 lb chopped Almonds

Method

Quarter chicken and simmer in a very little water with butter, onion, seasonings and parsley for about 2 hours till flesh falls off the bone. Add a little more water as required. The giblets and liver may be simmered with the birds. When cooked, drain off stock and reserve. Skin and bone the chicken, and cut the meat into smallish pieces.

Take about 150 ml (1/4 pint) of the stock and beat it well with the eggs. Season to taste with salt and pepper, pour into a small pan and stir over low heat until the mixture is creamy and nearly set. The chicken and eggs constitute the filling of the pie.

Brush a large round (or square) pie tin or oven dish about 33 cm (13 inches) in diameter and 4 to 5 cm (1 1/2 to 2 inches) deep with melted butter. Fit a sheet of filo pastry in the dish so that the ends fold well up and overlap the edges. If this is not possible, use overlapping sheets of filo. Lay 6 sheets on top of each other, brushing melted butter evenly between each layer. Sprinkle the top layer with sugar, cinnamon and sauteed almonds. Spread more than half the egg mixture over this, and sprinkle with a little of the remaining chicken stock. Cover with another 4 sheets of filo, each one brushed with melted butter. Lay the pieces of boned chicken neatly on top and cover with the rest of the egg mixture. Sprinkle with a little more chicken stock. Cover with the remaining filo sheets, brushing each layer with melted butter. Tuck the top filo sheets between the overlapping bottom sheets and the sides of the dish.

Paint the top with beaten egg yolk and bake in a slow to moderate oven (160 - 180 degreesC/325 - 350 degreesF/Mark 3 - 4) for the first forty minutes. Then raise the temperature to 200 degrees C/400 degreesF/Mark 6 and bake for a further 15 minutes, or until the pastry is crisp and the top a deep golden colour.

Serve sprinkled with sugar mixed with cinnamon, and cut, if you like, in a criss-cross pattern of lozenges.