IMBB #16: Pinenut and Egg Bastila

I didn't expect to do IMBB this month.  I've been so busy of late.  But I had a feeling this was the weekend, so I checked in and discovered that, yes, this weekend is IMBB.  And with such an eggs-ellant theme, courtesy of Seattle Bon Vivant, I knew I had to make time.  I love eggs.  In fact, this morning I made hollandaise sauce for a Benedicty-like breakfast of fried egg and bacon on toast with hollandaise.  Ok, the bacon made it a bit excessive.  It pleased me that I had unknowingly already fulfilled the IMBB with my hollandaise sauce, but I desired to do something a little less common with the common egg.  I pondered for a bit, checked a few cookbooks, rummaged through the cubbards and fridge, and came up with an eggy dish that pleases me quite a bit.

I had my first bastila ("ba-stee-ya") at a North African restaurant near D.C.  They used chicken instead of squab.  I was in heaven.  I have yet to make a chicken bastila, but some years back I discovered Kitty Morse's savory cashew bastila recipe from her The Vegetarian Table: North Africa cookbook.  I was out of cashews, but I had pinenuts.  (Mmmm... pinenuts.)  The cashew version is yummy, and, I must say, it works quite well with pinenuts too.

Pinenut and Egg Bastila
adapted from Kitty Morse's Cashew Bastila recipe

8 Tbs butter
8 green onions, chopped finely
6 eggs
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. paprika (Ms. Morse uses sweet.  I used a mix of sweet and half-sharp.)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. black pepper
12 flat leaf parsley sprigs, minced
10 fresh cilantro sprigs, minced
1 cup pinenuts (or use 1 cup finely chopped unsalted cashews)
8 phyllo sheets

Thaw the phyllo, if necessary.

Heat oven to 400. 

Optional:  lightly dry-roast the pinenuts in a pan until they turn a bit golden or light brown.  Do not burn.  I think this brings out a nice flavor.

Melt 2 Tbs of butter in a skillet.  Saute the green onions until softened.  Whisk eggs, add the cinnamon, paprika, salt, and pepper and whisk some more.  Add egg mixture to the onions and scramble until fairly dry.  Break up the lumps of egg. Mix in the parsley and cilantro and set aside.

The original recipe calls for an 8 inch pie pan.  I used a 9 inch pan, and it works out just fine. 

Melt the remaining butter.  Using a plate or bowl with a 11" diamter as a guide, cut through all eight sheets of phyllo into 11 inch circles.   Grease the pie pan.  Lay the first phyllo sheet in the pan with it overlapping more on one side of the pan.  Brush with butter.  Lay the next sheet on top, with it overlapping a different side.  Brush with butter.  Repeat for two more phyllo sheets.  Add the filling.  Fold the overlapping edges over the top of the filling.  Lay the next phyllo sheet on top, with it overlapping off on one side of the pan.  Brush with butter.  Repeat for the remaining sheets.  Then carefully tuck the overlapping edges underneath the bastila as if tucking in a bedsheet.  Brush the top with butter.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until nicely browned.

This dish is best eaten immediately as the phyllo will get soggy over time.  (Leftovers are still tasty, but not very presentation-pretty.)

Comments

[Melissa]

That looks absolutely delicious - I've eyed that recipe in her book but never got around to making it. My favorite that I've made is her 'Makhouda' with eggplant and gruyere - have you tried it?

[Kitchen Chick]

Regrettably no. You may notice that cheese almost never makes an appearance here -- it's a food allergy issue. Sigh.

I've been very happy with Kitty Morse's cookbooks. I think they're more accessible for cooks new to North African cuisine than Paula Wolfert's classic "Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco", which I also really like.

[Melissa]

I agree - this cookbook is one of the few that has made the transition with me from vegetarian to meat-eating and still gets heavily used. And now that you mention it, I've never once cooked from the Paula Wolfert book, though I love the wealth of information it contains. And I sympathize on the cheese allergy - over here I've got a wheat allergy to contend with...

It would be nice if these menu's were printer friendly

Unnamed: I agree it would be nice if there was a link to a "printer friendly" page version, but that is beyond the features offered by my level of typepad service. To avoid the sidebars, I recommend copying and pasting the content into a text editor.

Melissa: Wheat allergy. Ouch. I have cooked from the Wolfert book, but it's not the first one I reach for. Another favorite vegetarian book of mine that would have to be pried out of my dead hands is Madhur Jaffrey's World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking.