Cooking in
Fort St. John
North African
Seafood Bastilla (Bastilla de Fruits de Mer)
Seafood bastilla replaces the pigeon-and-almond filling of the imperial bastilla with a spiced seafood mixture — typically Penaeus shrimp, Sepia officinalis squid or cuttlefish, and white-fleshed-species fish (often Sparus aurata gilt-head bream or Solea solea sole) — cooked in a chermoula of Coriandrum sativum, Petroselinum crispum, Allium sativum, cumin, sweet paprika, saffron, and Olea europaea olive-oil. The seafood is cooked in the chermoula until just done, drained of excess liquid (which is reserved and reduced to a concentrated sauce), and combined with Gallus gallus domesticus egg-bound vermicelli Triticum aestivum noodles and a savoury custard of whole eggs beaten with the reduced cooking liquid. This filling is layered inside buttered warqa sheets, sealed, and baked until golden. The exterior is dusted lightly with icing-sugar and cinnamon — the sweet-savoury contrast preserved from the pigeon original.
‹Swipe for the next dish›
Two elsewhere in British Columbia · two not yet within reach.
How the 4 are reached
- Elsewhere in British Columbia
- 2 · fresh coriander, cuttlefish or squid (Sepia officinalis)
- Not yet within reach
- 2 · vermicelli (Triticum aestivum), warqa pastry
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the chermoula
4 tbsp
olive oil
extra-virgin
Your own market
4 cloves
garlic
finely chopped
Your own market
1 tsp
ground cumin
Your own market
1 tsp
sweet paprika
Your own market
1 generous pinch
saffron threads
crumbled
Your own market
20 g
fresh coriander
finely chopped
20 g
flat-leaf parsley
finely chopped
Your own market
For the seafood filling
300 g
Penaeus shrimp
peeled and deveined
Your own market
300 g
cuttlefish or squid (Sepia officinalis)
cleaned, cut into small pieces
300 g
white-fleshed fish fillet (gilt-head bream or sole)
skin removed, cut into chunks
Your own market
For the egg-noodle binder
100 g
vermicelli (Triticum aestivum)
broken into short lengths, lightly cooked
Not yet within reach of Fort St. John · each reach is counted
4
eggs
whole, beaten
Your own market
For assembly
8 sheets
warqa pastry
or phyllo with increased clarified butter between layers
Not yet within reach of Fort St. John · each reach is counted
100 g
clarified butter
for brushing sheets and sealing edges
Your own market
For the exterior dusting
2 tbsp
icing sugar
Your own market
1 tsp
ground cinnamon
Your own market
Within reach counts in town, delivered, shipped and the nearest city. A staple counts once it has a local seller. Charted from each shop's own pages; not yet vouched by a cook who shops here.
The larder of Fort St. John →Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Warm the olive oil in a wide pan over a medium flame, then add the garlic, cumin, sweet paprika, and saffron, stirring for one minute so the spices bloom in the fat and release their fragrance rather than staying raw and sharp. Add the coriander and parsley, then the cuttlefish and cook for two minutes before adding the fish and shrimp. Cook, stirring gently, until each piece is just opaque at the centre and the shrimp are barely pink — they must not be cooked through, because they will continue in the oven inside the bastilla — the flesh should yield to very light pressure but still carry a translucent core.
2
Transfer the seafood to a colander set over a bowl and allow to drain completely, so the pastry receives a dry filling rather than a wet one. Return all collected cooking liquid to the pan and reduce over a high flame, stirring, until it coats the back of a spoon and concentrates to a glaze — this is where the dish lives or dies, because if the filling carries any residual moisture into the pastry, the warqa will saturate and the bastilla will collapse. The cue: a finger drawn across the back of the coated spoon leaves a clean, stable line.
3
Beat the whole eggs and combine with the reduced glaze, so the custard carries all the concentrated spice and seafood flavour through every element of the filling. Cook the vermicelli until just tender, drain, and cool before adding it, so it does not carry steam into the mixture. Combine the seafood, noodles, and egg mixture, checking that the custard coats every element evenly without pooling — no free liquid should be visible in the bowl when it is tipped gently.
4
Brush a round baking tin or oven-proof pan with clarified butter, then lay the warqa sheets across the base and up the sides, brushing each sheet with clarified butter as you go so every layer crisps independently rather than steaming together, and overlapping them to leave an overhang that will fold back over the top. Mound the filling in the centre, then fold the overhanging sheets over the filling and seal all edges firmly with clarified butter, pressing with a pastry brush to close every gap. Lay one or two additional buttered warqa sheets on top and tuck the edges under — no opening should be visible anywhere along the seam.
5
Bake in an oven preheated to 190 °C until the exterior is deeply golden and audibly crisp when tapped with a knuckle, which tells you the layers have dried and set rather than merely coloured on the surface. The cue is a hollow sound at the top surface and a uniform amber-gold colour with no pale patches.
6
Remove from the oven and allow to rest for two minutes so the layers firm up and the bastilla holds its shape cleanly when inverted onto a serving platter if desired. Dust immediately and generously with icing sugar, then draw thin lines of ground cinnamon across the surface — this dusting is not decoration but the traditional sweet-savoury contrast that is definitional to bastilla. The cue: the sugar lies dry and white against the golden pastry, not melting or absorbing.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Live or day-boat Penaeus shrimp, day-caught Sparus aurata bream or Solea sole, fresh Sepia officinalis cuttlefish cleaned to order, hand-made warqa, and saffron from Taliouine.
02
Estate — Very fresh market shrimp and bream, good-quality frozen cuttlefish fully thawed and dried, commercial warqa from a specialist supplier, and quality Spanish saffron.
03
Market — Supermarket shell-on shrimp, frozen white fish fillet (well-dried before cooking), frozen squid rings, commercial warqa or phyllo with increased clarified butter, and standard ground saffron.
04
House — Any available white fish and shrimp, phyllo pastry with generous clarified butter between every layer, and pre-mixed chermoula spice blend in place of individual spices.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sight. The reduced cooking liquid draws a clean, stable line on the back of a spoon — no liquid pools in the filling bowl when tipped.
◇Touch. The seafood yields to very light pressure but retains a barely-translucent core before the oven stage.
◇Sound. The baked bastilla returns a hollow sound when tapped with a knuckle, indicating a fully crisped warqa shell.
◇Sight. The exterior is a uniform amber-gold with no pale patches; icing sugar lies dry and white, not melting into the surface.
◇Where it lives or dies. The bastilla lives or dies on draining the cooked seafood completely and reducing its cooking liquid to a concentrated glaze — any residual moisture will saturate the warqa and cause the pastry to collapse.
Pillar V
Cross-cuisine parallels are part of membership.
The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Springbank 10 Year Old Campbeltown Single Malt
Springbank Distillery · Campbeltown
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Whisky
From British Columbia
Spirits gin
Without alcohol
Traditional
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
Why each one works is part of membership — Enter · from $49 a year →
The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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The working kitchen
Sourced through Provenance