Layered Chicken & Yogurt Casserole
Submitted by darlen1010
Chicken fatteh layers toasted pita, saffron-scented rice, poached chicken, and garlicky yogurt in a Levantine feast dish finished with pine nuts, pistachios, and fresh herbs.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
1 hrsREADY
2 hrsLayered chicken and yogurt casserole is the home version of fatteh, a beloved Levantine dish built on a foundation of crisp toasted pita bread. Fatteh means “crushed” in Arabic, which describes exactly what happens: bread breaks into shards that soak up garlicky broth, then get layered with rice, shredded chicken, and drained yogurt into a striking platter.
The chicken gets poached low and slow with peppercorns, cinnamon sticks, cloves, onion, and thyme in cold water. That cold-water start is the secret to the clearest, cleanest broth; hot water would extract impurities as scum. The broth becomes the cooking liquid for the rice and the garlic-lemon sauce.
Draining the yogurt for an hour in cheesecloth is non-negotiable. It concentrates into a thick, tangy cream (closer to labneh than yogurt) that won’t run off the top of the dish when spread.
Assembly is where this goes from casserole to centerpiece. Shards of toasted pita around the edge, broken pieces on the bottom, spiced broth poured over, rice layer, chicken layer, yogurt blanket, topped with pine nuts, pistachios, mint, and parsley. Each spoonful hits every layer.
Serve immediately. The bread should still be crunchy in spots when you eat it.
Chef Tips
- Chill the broth and skim the fat off the top. This seems fussy but gives you a cleaner-tasting final dish; the fat can muddy the fresh herb-yogurt layer.
- Toast the pita until deep golden and brittle, not just warm. You want audible crunch to survive the wet layers.
- Use full-fat plain yogurt. Low-fat yogurt thins out and weeps when drained.
- Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan until deeply golden. Untoasted pine nuts taste of nothing and ruin the garnish.
Variations
Ingredients
Directions
Wash the chicken.
Pull off the skin and trim off excess fat.
Place the cold water and chicken in a large soup pot.
Add the peppercorns, cinnamon, cloves, onion, and thyme and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Lower the heat and simmer gently, partially covered, for 1 hour.
Remove from the heat.
Meanwhile place the yogurt in a sieve or colander lined with cheesecloth.
Let drain over a bowl for 1 hour to thicken.
Remove the chicken from the broth with tongs, and place the chicken on a work surface.
Let cool somewhat, then pull the chicken meat off the bones, shredding it into bite-size pieces.
Discard the bones.
Strain the broth and discard the solids.
Pour 4½ cups of the broth into a container and place the broth in the refrigerator to cool (If you are in a rush, you can skip this step and use the broth without defatting it).
Set aside the remainder of the broth in the refrigerator or freezer for another use.
Skim the fat off the surface of the cooled broth.
Rinse the rice thoroughly in cold water until the water runs clear, then drain well.
Place in a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid and add 2¼ cups of the defatted broth.
Bring to a vigorous boil, then cover, reduce the heat to very low, and cook for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat.
Meantime, combine the remainder of the defatted broth, the chopped garlic, and lemon juice in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle boil.
Add 1 teaspoon of the salt and simmer for 5 minutes.
You are now ready to assemble the fatteh.
Assemble the fatteh on a large shallow serving dish or platter.
Leave 1 cup of the toasted pits in triangle-shaped pieces and break up the rest into bite-sized pieces.
Spread the broken pieces over the bottom of the dish and lean the triangles up agains the sites, or if using a platter, place around the edge.
Pour two thirds of the garlic broth over the crumpled bread.
Spoon on the rices, spreading it evenly, then distribute the chicken pieces evenly over the rice. Pour the remainder of the broth over the chicken.
Mix together the yogurt and the remaining ½ teaspoon salt and spread over the chicken.
Scatter the chopped herbs over the yogurt, then sprinkle on the pine nuts and chopped pistachios.
Alternatively, you can mix the chopped mint into the yogurt, leaving only the parsley and nuts as top dressing.
Serve immediately.
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