Baklava

Ingredients

Quantities for 12 servings.

• 500 g Yufka or filo pastry
• 400 g Pistachios, coarsely chopped
• 300 g Clarified butter
• 500 g Sugar
• 400 ml Water
• 1 tbsp Lemon juice

Method

1. Make the syrup: bring the sugar and water to the boil, cook fifteen minutes, add the lemon juice and cool it completely.
2. Melt the butter and let it settle — use only the clear upper layer and discard the sediment.
3. Lay twenty sheets into a greased tin, brushing each with butter. Scatter the pistachios in an even layer.
4. Cover with twenty more sheets, brushing each in the same way. Butter the top sheet especially generously.
5. Cut it into diamonds with a sharp knife, right down to the base of the tin.
6. Bake at 170 °C for an hour, to a deep gold. Take it out and pour the cold syrup into the cuts at once.
7. Leave it six hours, better overnight. Cutting and serving earlier is pointless: the syrup has not reached the lower layers.