Seafood B'stilla (Moroccan Seafood Pie) #BakingBloggers

Sue of Palatable Pastime and Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm are hosting this month's #BakingBloggers. Topic of the month is pie. They wrote: "Any kind of pie will do, as long as some part of it is baked."

• Applesauce Pie by Making Miracles
• Blackberry Pie by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Concord Grape Pie by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cranberry Apple Pie by House of Nash Eats
• Dairy-free Raspberry Jam Crostata by Manu's Menu
• French Silk Pie by Tramplingrose: Cooking, Baking & Ranting in Small-Town South Dakota
• Pear-Apple Crumble Pie by Cookaholic Wife
• Pear Frangipane Tart with Cranberries by Caroline's Cooking 
• Seafood B'stilla (Moroccan Seafood Pie) by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Stuffed Plum Tomato Tart by Food Love People Lust

Well, we love pie...definitely more than cake. My Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf is the pie baker in the household mostly. He's made Alton Brown's Apple Pie for which he pulled money out of his piggy bank to get a pie bird. He played with a recipe for Brown Butter-Espresso Pecan Pie until he was happy with it. And he even roped in his brother to help him with a Banana Cream Pie when we were on vacation in Oregon during the Spring.

But my inclination is almost always savory. So, today, I'm sharing a pie that my friends request often: seafood pie. It's my version of a Moroccan Seafood B'Stilla. 

Ingredients makes two 9" pies

• 3 to 4 pounds seafood (I used a mixture of cod, scallops, calamari, and shrimp)
• 1 pound of shrimp, separated from the rest
• 2 T butter
• olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 fennel, trimmed and chopped
• juice and zest from 1 organic lemon
• 1/2 t ground paprika
• 1/2 t ground cumin
• freshly ground salt
• freshly ground pepper
• fresh tarragon
• fresh parsley
• fresh mint
• phyllo dough, thawed
• butter, melted

Procedure

In a large, flat-bottom pan, melt 2 T butter with a splash of olive oil. Saute the onion and fennel until the onions are transparent and the fennel softened. Add in the seafood - minus the shrimp for garnishing - and season with lemon juice, zest, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper.When seafood is almost cooked, fold in the fresh herbs.

Layer six sheets of phyllo dough is a baking dish, brushing each with melted butter before laying the next one on top. Fill the dish with the seafood mixture, drained of its sauce.  Fold the overhanging pastry towards the middle and cover with two more layers of phyllo, brushing with butter again. Overturn the pie onto a flat baking dish. Brush with melted butter. Bake at 400 degrees till the phyllo dough is browned and crisp, probably about 35 minutes.

In the meantime, marinate shrimp in the cooking liquid. Pour off the liquid and quickly brown the shrimp.

To serve, plate the b'stilla. Lay thinly sliced lemons on the cooked pie and pile on the shrimp. Sprinkle with more fresh herbs.