Emblematic of Fassi (from Fez) and Moroccan cuisine in general, here is the recipe for this pigeon pastry with a sweet-and-savoury flavour. For 6 people.
Ingredients
For the filling: 4 pigeons, 1 kg of onions, 100 g of butter, 100 g of caster sugar, 250 g of almonds, 6 hard-boiled eggs, flat-leaf parsley, coriander, salt, pepper, saffron, cinnamon. For the pastilla: 100 g of butter, 2 beaten eggs, 1 kg of large pastilla sheets.
Preparation
Allow 45 minutes + 1 h 10 of cooking. Place the pigeons in a casserole dish with the chopped parsley, onions, butter, saffron, pepper, salt, and a little sugar. Let cook over medium heat for 40 minutes. Remove the pigeons. Reduce the sauce until a syrup is obtained. Debone the pigeons in a salad bowl. Add the sugar, crushed almonds, hard-boiled eggs cut into small pieces, and the reduced sauce. Mix. Butter the pastilla mould and arrange a first layer of sheets (smooth side down) by making them overlap and letting a third hang over the outside of the mould. Spread a layer of filling. Cover with sheets. Repeat until the filling is exhausted. Fold back the sheets that are hanging over. Glue them with beaten egg. Consolidate with other sheets. Brush with butter and brown with egg. Cook in a medium oven at 120 °C (gas mark 4) for 20 minutes. Turn the pastilla over to brown with butter on this side for a few minutes. Decorate with cinnamon and icing sugar lattice. This pastilla can be prepared with chicken.