it’s like dessert, but with chicken

While it may not look like any sort of baking/cooking masterpiece, I can guarantee you that there’s nothing more delicious for dinner than a sugary-covered, lovely bastilla.

I had endured a craving for quite awhile now, as it was an old LA-restaurant favorite (Sunnin in Westwood) that wasn’t available around the corner anymore.  So in an attempt to try and cook a little more advanced recipe on the weekend, I took on the challenge of recreating my favorite “dessert with chicken” dish.

Basically, the dish has very simple ingredients: almonds, sugar, cinammon, onion, eggs, chicken, & phyllo dough. The recipe also needs tumeric, ginger & pepper, but nothing more exotic than that! I grabbed a recipe from Fabulous Foods (ironically, from another LA restaurant), but I made a few alterations. First, instead of boiling my own chicken on the bone, I used a rotisserie chicken (already cooked), and peeled off the skin. It saved me some cooking time, and guaranteed that it would all be cooked well.

I also tried to create the little puff pastry shape that Sunnin uses, as opposed to the flat pancake style that the recipe calls for. I almost worked — but at least Mr. M was somewhat impressed.

Now while Mr. M could gobble up his in one sitting, I had to split mine into a two night affair. But it warmed up just as lovely the next day!

And just in case you were wondering what was inside? Layers of chicken/egg/onion mixtures on top of almond/sugar/cinammon mixtures. All covered in a heavy layer of powdered sugar.

Pure yum!!!