weekend
Shoot director RACHEL BAYLY| Food stylist JENNA LEITER| Stylist ALEXANDER BREEZE88 bbcgoodfood.com APRIL 2020
2 Whatever size of filo sheets you
have, cut them to fit the tin. Lay one
sheet of filo in it, butter it, and keep
going until you have 6 sheets of filo.
Spoon the nut mixture on top and
press down with the back of a
spoon, like making a biscuit base,
then put 8 filo sheets on the top,
again buttering each one. Using a
sharp knife, cut a diamond trellis
on top, then bake in the oven for
1 hr until golden brown.
3 Make the syrup by putting the
sugar, lemon juice and strips of
zest in a saucepan with 250ml
water. Bring to a boil, stirring to
help the sugar dissolve, then turn
the heat down a little and simmer
for 10 mins. The mixture will look
quite syrupy. Remove the lemon
zest and add the rosewater to taste.
4 While the baklava and the syrup
are still warm, pour the syrup
carefully over the pastry. Return the
baklava to the oven for 5 more mins.
5 Sprinkle the remaining pistachios
over the baklava, then leave to cool
overnight – so that the baklava can
absorb all of the syrup. If you’re
making this for a special occasion,
it’s nice to scatter over some torn
rose petals (they have to be small
pieces) just before serving.
PER SERVING260 kcals•fat 13g•saturates 4g•
carbs 30g•sugars 20g• fibre 2g• protein 5g•
salt 0.3g500g granulated sugar, plus 3 tbsp
200g butter, melted, plus extra
for the tin
2 x 250g packs offilo pastry
(you won’t use all the sheets)
about 2 tsp rosewater (add to taste
as brands vary in strength)
handful of pink rose petals,
unsprayed (optional)1 Mix the almonds and pistachios
in a bowl, reserving about 3 tbsp of
the pistachios to garnish. Stir in the
finely grated lemon zest, the 3 tbsp
of sugar and 5 tbsp of the butter.
Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/
gas 4. Butter the base and sides of
a roasting or baking tin (30 x 20cm).Pistachio, almond,
lemon & rose baklava
I’ve never made baklava before – I
was worried it would be a terrible
faff – but it’s easy and a great thing
to serve at the end of a Middle
Eastern or Turkish meal.MAKESaround 25-30 pieces
PREP35 mins plus overnight cooling
COOK1 hr 10 minsMORE EFFORTV125g ground almonds
300g pistachios, chopped in a
food processor (some roughly,
somefinely)
1 lemon,finely zested and juiced,
plus 4 broad strips of zestSome cooks are
nervous about handling
filo – just keep a tea
towel over the sheets
so they don’t dry