CHICKEN PILAF IN A PIE

Steps:

• The chicken is roasted and the carcass is used to make a broth that is served to accompany the pie. Rub the chicken with the oil, salt, and pepper. Put it breast side down in a roasting pan so that the fat runs down, which prevents the breasts from drying out. Add 4 tablespoons of water to the bottom of the pan. Roast for 45 minutes in an oven preheated to 400°F, then turn the chicken breast side up and continue to cook for 20 minutes more; it should be a little underdone.
• When the chicken is cool enough to handle, cut it up into 6 large pieces and remove the skin and bones, which should be kept for the broth. Cut any remaining meat from the carcass into small pieces. Keep all this covered with plastic wrap so it does not dry out. Keep the chicken juices and the fat from the roasting pan for the rice.
• Put the skin, bones, and carcass into a pan with the onion, cover with water, add a little salt, and simmer for 1 hour, until the broth is reduced and concentrated, then strain it. This will be the "sauce" to accompany the pie.
• Wash the rice, if using basmati. Pour cold water over it, stir, and leave to soak for a few minutes, then strain and rinse in cold running water. Bring 2 1/4 cups water to the boil with the crumbled bouillon cubes, add the rice, and stir well. Add salt, taking into consideration the saltiness of the bouillon cubes. Cook, covered and undisturbed, over very low heat for about 18 minutes, until the rice is only just tender. (Some brands that claim not to be parboiled or precooked now take as little as 8 to 10 minutes, so read the information on the package.)
• Pour in the chicken juices and the fat from the roasting pan, and add the reserved small pieces of chicken. Fold in the butter, pistachios, and almonds. Taste to see that there is enough salt because rice needs quite a bit. The rice, too, can be prepared in advance.
• Assemble the pie not too long before your guests arrive. Roll out the puff pastry so that it is a large rectangle measuring 14 inches × 16 inches on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin, turning the sheet of pastry often and dusting it with flour. Lift it onto a large, flat baking dish or sheet. Put the rice in the center and shape it into a dome, with a base about 10 inches in diameter. Arrange the 6 large chicken pieces on top. Bring the pastry up over the rice and chicken mound, bringing up the four corners to meet at the top, and twisting them together. Now comes the artful part-you have to make it look like an Ottoman dome!
• Bring the edges of the pastry together to close the side openings, right up to the top of the dome, hugging the filling. Cut away the excess dough, and seal the four openings by pinching them firmly together. A little egg white brushed along the edges makes them stick better. By pinching and twisting all the way along the edges, produce a scalloped effect (like the hem of women's lingerie). It is the kind of edging you find along many Middle Eastern pies. Cut a little round about 1 1/2 inches in diameter from the off-cuts and stick it on the top of the dome, with a little egg white, to cover up the joins.
• Brush the whole pastry with the egg yolk mixed with a drop of water, and bake in an oven preheated to 350°F for 45 minutes, or until the pastry is crisp and golden brown.
• Serve with the strained and reheated chicken broth.
• variation
• If you want the chicken pilaf but do not want to bother with a pastry crust, press the pilaf in a ring- or dome-shaped mold and heat it through in the oven. Turn it out and surround it with the chicken pieces.