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Moroccan Pastilla For An Impressive Dinner 

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Exotic sweet-savory taste to show off your culinary skills

Hosting a dinner party or trying to impress your date? Moroccan food is delicious, tasty, and the mixture of ingredients is out of this world. Moroccan Pastilla contains olives and apricots, almonds, and sugar, so it’s safe to say that it’s not something you eat every day. Let’s start with ingredients and move on to the preparing process. 

Ingredients (Serving Size – 4 people):

· 1 pound parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks 

· 1 red onion 

· 1 cup of green olives, pitted 

· ½ cup of dried apricots 

· ½ cup of dates, pitted 

· ½ cup of raw almonds 

· 4 cloves garlic, smashed 

· 3 tablespoons of olive oil, add more for pie plate and brushing onto phyllo 

· Salt pepper 

· Black pepper

· 1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped 

· 1 lemon  

· ½ of a 16-oz. pack of phyllo dough softened in the refrigerator overnight 

· 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar 

· 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon 

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F, then, in a food processor, blend parsnips, onion, olives, apricots, dates, almonds, and garlic. Pulse until parts are pea-size, working in batches if required and scraping down sides as needed.

2. In a large skillet heat three spoons of oil over medium-high. Add parsnip mix and 1 cup of water. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Cook up to 15 minutes or until parsnips softens. When the pan is mostly dry, stir occasionally and adjust the heat, so the mixture sizzles without burning. Cook for 1 minute, then turn off the heat. Stir in cilantro and lemon flavor.

3. Oil a 9-inch pie plate. Cut eight sheets phyllo into 9-inch squares. Place one square in the bottom of the pie plate, allowing corners to hang over the edge. Brush phyllo with oil, then top with a phyllo sheet at a 45° angle. Brush with oil. Repeat with two more sheets, fanning to cover sides of the pie plate evenly.

4. Spread vegetable mixture equally over the phyllo. Top with four more phyllo squares, brushing each with some olive oil and offsetting corners. Fold edges of all phyllo down into sides of the pie plate to enclose. Brush top with oil. Cut a few small slits in the top to allow steam to escape. Cover with foil.

5. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for another 5 to 10 minutes more or until golden brownish and crisp. In a small sieve combine sugar and cinnamon. Shake over the pie to dust. Serve warm or at room temperature.