Chicken B'Stilla for French Fridays with Dorie

I first had chicken b'stilla at a Moroccan restaurant in D.C. many, many ... okay, many ...  years ago, and (culinary naif that I was) I thought it was quite the exotic dish. For one thing, I had never before experienced cinnamon in a savory preparation, something I now know is fairly common to many North African and Middle Eastern cuisines. For another thing, the fragrant herbs and spices, particularly the saffron, were not tastes that I was used to.

Alas, shortly after I ate there, I heard a rumor (from a very reliable source!)  that  - how shall I put it? is this a family blog? - certain types of explicit adult films were shot in the very same restaurant space after hours. I'm no prude, but the visual of what may or may not have been occurring on the very table upon which I had blissfully and innocently enjoyed my b'stilla was enough to prevent me from ever going back.

I've ordered the dish once or twice in other places since that time, but I've always been underwhelmed by the seasoning and/or the presentation.  That exciting flavor from my first taste of chicken b'stilla has, so far, remained elusive.

That is, until I made the recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table. Today is, hands down, my very favorite French Friday with Dorie to date, as it gave me the kick in the pants I needed to make something that has lingered in the mind's eye of my taste buds for all these years.

I changed very little, except to temper my eggs before adding them to the sauce in order to avoid some sort of wretched North African egg drop soup fusion that I was unprepared to explore. I served it with a carrot and fennel salad that I'll share in a future post. I had extra filling so I put it in a mini casserole and topped it with a filo crust.

Happy French Friday - if you'd like join the group, just pick up a copy of the cookbook and start cooking along. A bientot!