I’m happy to show you how to prepare one of my most preferable meals – a phyllo pastry stuffed with seafood and a typical recipe that is highly regarded as a national dish of Morocco. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
For the filling :
- 1 lb of fresh medium sized shrimp, shelled, cleaned and with tails removed.
- 1 lb of fresh squid cleaned and cut into medium pieces.
- 1 lb white meat fish (talapia or swordfish).
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 4 tbs of chopped parsley
- 3 heads of garlic cloves
- 3 oz of mushrooms sliced
- ¼ cup of olive oil
- 5 oz of Chinese vermicelli
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of cumin
- 1 tsp of paprika
- ½ tsp of black pepper
- ½ tsp ginger
- 1 tsp of saffron
- 1 tsp of harissa
- Lemon juice (one lemon)
For the wrap :
- 1 lbs phyllo dough
- Melted butter
- 2 eggs yolk
For decoration:
- 1 lemon sliced
- Shrimp unshelled
Preparation steps:
Filling steps:
- Use a large pan on a medium high fire. Add olive oil, mushrooms, onion, garlic, parsley, salt and spices, saffron, harissa. Sauté the mixture for about 7 minutes.
- Add water to a medium pot. Bring it to a boil and add the squid first and cook it for 10 minutes, after that add the white fish meat and shrimp to boil for about 5 minutes. Strain the contents and make sure you save the water.
- Boil the vermicelli in the same water from the previous step then cut it into small pieces.
- Add the cooked fish (squid, shrimp, white fish) to the pan, add the lemon juice, mix and cook the ingredients for 10 minutes on a medium high fire then add the vermicelli to the pan and mix.
Wrapping steps:
- Grease a round baking dish with melted butter
- Then place 4 sheets phyllo dough in the dish
- Overlap them to 1/3 outside the dish
- Brush them with melted butter
- Add another one in the center, also brush it with melted butter
- Add all the filling to the dish
- Brush the edges with melted butter and egg yolk
- Bring the edges of the sheets to the center to cover the filling
- Add one more sheet on the top
- Brush the surface with melted butter and egg yolk.
- Bake it in the oven for about 20 minutes and 350 F.
Decoration:
Place the pastilla on a serving dish and decorate it with some lemon slices and some fried shrimp on the top.