Beer Around Town

So since my quick trip to Morocco earlier this summer I’ve been craving the Chicken Pie I had, so I set out the other night with the goal of finding a cure for the craving. Not being one to follow directions I did a bit of guess work and came up with a rough idea of how I’d go about replicating this excellent meal. To keep it beer related I opted to pair this meal with a bottle of Stone Vertical Epic 08.08.08 that was calling from the cellar. The 08.08.08 Vertical Epic was an American hopped Belgian Strong Golden of sorts which I thought would pair nicely with this meal. Over the last year the hops have subdued a bit and the beer has really started coming together nicely. I felt the clove and pepper notes of the yeast esters might play nicely with the curry and cinnamon of the dish, so they shall be one.

First up an onion was sliced up and sauteed up in some butter and a healthy splash of Vertical Epic.

Once the onions gained their nice caramel color I added some shredded chicken. The chicken in this case was baked, but you could also just boil it and it might be easier to shred. Once these are added together I gave the mixture a splash of rice milk, a chopped garlic clove, some turmeric, curry powder, a dab of chile powder, cinnamon, salt, an egg, and another splash of Vertical Epic. I didn’t take measurements on any of the spices, but mostly I was just looking for a good curried chicken taste, minimal heat from the chile, with a nice sweetness to it from the cinnamon. This was all cooked together for a bit to get the flavors to meld while I prepared the phyllo dough.

Phyllo dough is a pain in the ass. Super thin sheets of pastry dough just looking to fall apart. I used two small foil baking trays and a lot of melted butter. Paint on the melted butter to the trays then lay a sheet of phyllo in there. More butter and more sheets of phyllo. I did the base about 6 sheets thick, letting the excess hang over the edges to be folded back over later.

Once the phyllo trays were prepared I just scooped the chicken mixture from the stove into the crusts.

Next I added on about 4 more layers of phyllo with butter in between over the top of the chicken mix. Lastly fold the excess from the bottom over the top to fully encase the chicken pie. A bit more butter is painted on the top.

I placed the pies into the oven on medium heat for about 25 minutes.

Once the top was nice and browned I flipped the pies out of the trays and baked for another 5 to 10 minutes to brown the other side.

When the pies are finished cinnamon and powdered sugar are sprinkled on top. This added sweetness really brings out some of the sweeter spices curried chicken.

Overall I felt this turned out nicely and paired very well with the Vertical Epic. The beer’s esters paired nicely with the spicier parts of the curry while the bitterness was just strong enough to clean the palate from the sweetness of the cinnamon and sugar. The texture of the crust with the spicy and sweet chicken filling is really wonderful together. I’d recommended couscous and grilled veggies for side dishes to compliment it all. Next go around I might also add some raisins into the pie filling and some chopped almonds.