Seafood Pastilla Recipe

Salamwalikoum,
I thought I would do my 1st full recipe with pics and everything... So tonight for supper I made a seafood pastilla which is a morroccan dish made with fish, shrimp,phyllo dough and some spices.
So let's get started!

Ingredients:
2 medium carrots grated
1 onions finely chopped
4-5 filets of white meat fish (I used sole)
shrimp
1/2 pack cooked rice vermicelli
butter
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp powdered sugar
2 sprigs of snipped cilantro
a few sheets of phyllo or pastilla pastry dough.

You can also add calamari, scallops, clams or whatever shellfish or seafood you want. (except mussells.. they dont go well with the spices)


Directions:
Start off by cooking the onions and carrots (I made too much carrots...) in a frying pan with a bit of butter until the onions are translucent. Put aside in a big mixing bowl.

In the same frying pan, cook the seafood in some butter, when well cooked add to the carrots and onions in the bowl.

Again in the same frying pan cook the fish filets in some butter, and finally add to the rest of the mix.

In the mixing bowl you now have all the fish, seafood, and veggies all cooked. To this mix add the spices and the cooked rice vermicelli. Mix everything well.

Now on a baking sheet, lay down 3-4 sheets of phyllo dough, top with the fish mixture, sprinkle with a bit of the powdered sugar.
Layer in this order until all the mixture is used up and you have several layers of pastry.

Now close up the Pastilla by folding in all the edges towards the center and top with a sheet of phyllo. Brush with some melted butter and put in the oven and bake until the pastry is golden and crispy.

You can decorate de top with more powdered sugar and cinnamon just before serving, but I dont like it too sweet so I usually skip this part.

So there you have it, morroccan fish Pastilla.
And yes, I know most non morroccans will have the same reaction I did when my husband gave me the recipe...ewww fish with cinnamon and sugar. But it's actually wayyyyyy too yummy. The trick is to make it so very very lightly sweet.
And also don't use too much butter when cooking the different ingredients because in the end they will all be mixed together and it will be dripping in butter.... not good for the waistline nor the arteries.... lol

If you are making this dish for some picky eaters, you can swap out the cinnamon for chili powder and omit the sugar and you will get a yummy spicy fish pastilla which may go over a bit better with most non-morroccans.
Inshallah tomorrow night I will post the recipe for morroccan couscous since thats my usual friday lunch special.
Take care!