Eyes on the pies

North African-style pastries made with duck or chicken are a perfect picnic food.

While researching Moroccan food for a friend’s birthday lunch, I came across the North African pigeon pie called b’stilla, also known as pastilla. Both are pronounced “pasti-ya”. The pie, which can also be made with chicken or duck, is a sweet yet slightly salty and fragrant mix of meat, spices and a crunchy layer of buttered almonds in crisp sheets of filo pastry. The recipe is fairly involved, but time can be saved by making the filling a day ahead.

For the birthday lunch, we made individual pies, but you could make a larger one on a shallow pizza tray. With their surprise combination of textures and tastes, the b’stillas were a perfect picnic food for the guests, who sat outside on rugs and under umbrellas, trying to find shade on a hot, sunny day.

To complete the Moroccan theme, we followed the b’stillas with slices of moist orange cake and a salad of orange slices splashed with orange flower water.

B’STILLA

1 tbsp grapeseed oil

1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 180?C. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Brown the duck legs in the hot oil, then season lightly with salt and pepper and render out some of the duck fat. Lower the heat, then add the onion. Cook until soft but without colour, then add the wine and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the saffron and stock. Pour all the contents into a large casserole dish, cover with a lid or tinfoil and then bake in the oven for 1½ hours. Remove the duck from the dish and set aside. Pour the contents of the casserole into the frying pan and return to the heat. Continue cooking until the liquid has reduced to about a cup. Allow to cool. Remove the skin from the duck and chop finely. Shred the meat and combine with the skin and apple.

SAVOURY CUSTARD

4 eggs

1 cup reduced cooking liquor

Bring a saucepan of water to a gentle simmer. In a bowl that fits over the pot, while making sure the water is not in contact with the bottom of the bowl, whisk the eggs and liquor together. Stir constantly until thickened, then remove from the heat to cool. Fold the custard through the duck meat mixture and season with salt and pepper.

NUT MIX

60g unsalted butter

3 tbsp icing sugar

Melt the butter in a small frying pan. Add the almonds and fry slowly until golden, then transfer them, butter and all, to a small dish and place in the refrigerator to set. Once hardened, break the mixture into pieces. Put the pieces into a food processor and, using the pulse button, blend until it has a coarse texture. Add the cinnamon and icing sugar. Transfer to a small bowl.

TO ASSEMBLE

Spread 4 sheets of filo on the kitchen bench and brush each with the melted butter before layering them in a stack. Using a sharp knife, and using a saucer as a guide, cut the pastry through all the layers. Spread a spoonful of nut mixture in a 4cm circle in the centre of the pastry, then top with a large spoonful of duck mixture. Fold the pastry up, pleating the sides all the way up. Finally, twist the pleats at the top and turn the pastry over. The pastries can be made 2-3 days ahead to this point, or even frozen (defrost before using). When ready to use, preheat the oven to 180?C. Brush the pastries with melted butter and bake for 15 minutes until puffed and golden. Remove from the oven and dust with icing sugar and cinnamon before serving.

Serves 4.

I LOVE MAKING THIS CAKE – everything fits into the food processor, so there’s little washing up. Delightfully moist, it is also a pretty cake to look at, with its dark top in marked contrast to its golden-yellow interior. I serve it with mascarpone cheese and slices of fresh orange, but you could substitute yoghurt or whipped cream.

ORANGE AND ALMOND CAKE

3 whole oranges

2 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 180?C and grease and line a 30cm cake tin with baking paper. (It can also be made in muffin pans, as pictured.) Simmer the oranges in a large saucepan of water for 2 hours, changing the water 3 times during the process. Cool, then cut the oranges in half and remove the pips. Squeeze out any excess liquid that may have been absorbed during the cooking process. Place the orange pieces in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the eggs and sugar and blend for 3 minutes. Add the almonds and baking powder and blend for 2 minutes. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour. (If using muffin pans, bake for 45 minutes.) Remove from the oven and cool in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack. Store in an airtight container. This cake freezes well. Serve with mascarpone cheese.

Serves 8-12. Makes 12-16 muffins.

MASCARPONE CHEESE

zest and juice of 2 limes

vinegar

Bring the zest, cream and vanilla bean to a rolling boil. Boil for exactly 4 minutes until the cream separates. Add the lime juice and citric acid or vinegar, then return to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer gently for exactly 1 minute, then remove from the heat. Pour the cream through a fine sieve into a stainless-steel bowl, then refrigerate until set. Rinse the vanilla bean clean under cold running water. Line a clean sieve with damp muslin and place it over a larger bowl. Pour in the set cream, cover with plastic wrap, and return to the fridge for 24 hours. Scoop the mascarpone into a clean container and refrigerate. It will keep for 7-10 days.

Makes 1 litre.

CORRECTION

ingredients list (Food, February 23). The quantity is 2 tablespoons.