BACLAVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 15

Baclava……or is it Baklava…..or rather B’learwa……

Is it Greek? or Lebanese? or Turkish? or all 3!? Oh goodness…..

WHO KNOWS AND WHO CARES is all I have to say!

Just give me some….NOW!

For anyone who’s ever eaten Baclava, you’l know what I mean when I speak of that INSTANT SUGARY EXPLOSION that you get in your mouth upon the first crunch…..

It’s addictive.

If you’ve experienced it once, which I assume plenty of you have, then you’ll most DEFINITELY want to experience it again….

So here you go – an old (and ABSOLUTELY FOOL PROOF) family recipe (don’t know where it originated but it’s the only one we’ve every used!) for OUR version of the tasty Filo treat….

Note: EVERYONE seems to have a different opinion about how syrupy it should be, how you spell it, how you pronounce it, where it’s originally from, what nuts you should use when making it, whether you should include honey / cinnamon / vanilla / rosewater / orange blossom water, how you should cut it, whether you should stud it with cloves….and the list goes on and on and on forever….. SO – as I said, here is the recipe that has been in my (Greek and Lebanese) family for many years – TRY IT, you just may change your mind about the way you’ve always though a good ‘lava should be!

INGREDIENTS

SYRUP

3 cups white sugar

1 1/2 cups of water

2 tblspoons lemon juice (freshly squeezed)

2 teaspoons Rose water

BACLAVA

500g Unsalted Butter (melted)

375g Filo pastry

500g Walnuts – crushed

500g Almonds – slivered and toasted

200g Pistachios – chopped, very roughly

1 cup white sugar

METHOD

1) The first thing you need to do is make your Syrup, as it neds to be fridge-cold before you pour it over your piping oven-hot Baclava. To do this, start by filling your heavy based pan up with the 3 cups of sugar.

2) The next step is to add the lemon juice to the sugar. IF YOU DON’T ALREADY HAVE ONE, DO YOURSELF A HUGGGGGGGE FAVOUR AND BUY one of these juicers! You can get them EVERYWHERE now e.g. pretty much ALL GOOD homewares stores!

3) Now add the water to the sugar / lemon juice mixture. Stir together with a spoon to start dissolving the sugar crystals.

4) Turn the stove on to a high heat and bring the syrup mixture to the boil, let it boil for around 10-15 minutes. You want to see foam (scrape this off but keep boiling!)

5) After about 15 minutes, the mixture should have thickened a little, not lots, just a little. Stick in your spatula to check, then turn off the heat. It should look glossy, like a runny toffee consistency, and only slightllllllllly coloured.

6) QUICK! QUICK! QUIIIIIIIIICK! Transfer to a jug and put jug STRAIGHT into the fridge to cool right down.

7) Ok, the syrup is done so on to the main event. Let’s start with the almonds. Roast them. Shove them on a tray and grill them in the oven @ about 180 degrees c for about 3 minutes – DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THEM OR THEY SHALL BURNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN.

8) Chop your pistachios, roughly.

9) Place the roasted almonds, chopped pistachios and crushed walnuts (can buy them crushed) in a mixing bowl, and mix ’em.

I think we need another picture of those nuts…..just too delicious!

10) Add the additional sugar into the bowl….

…….and shake it all about! (you do the hokey pokey and you turn around…da.da.da.da.da.da.da)

11) Now for the pastry…. get your dish and with a pastry brush, slather the bottom and sides in melted butter – be generous!! Once you’ve done this, lay down the first sheet of filo….fold it over if it’s too large for the tray. Then…..you guessed it…. EVEN MOREEEEEE butter…Using your pastry brush, generously load the top of this sheet with melted butter….

12) Then lay down the next sheet of pastry, top with butter and so on… Repeat with about 10 or 11 sheets of filo….so its butter then filo, then butter then filo and so on…..yup….it’s ALOTTTTT of butter I KNOWWWWW!

13) Ok – so once you’ve done those 10 or 11 sheets, you are halfway, and thus want to load your filling into the pan…..so pour your nut/sugar mixture on top of the pastry and spread it evenly across the whole dish….

14)…..and then the repetition starts again….a sheet of filo, more melted butter, a sheet of filo, more melted butter….again, 10 or 11 sheets of filo should do! Once you have done this, ensuring that top layer is GENEROUSLY coated in butter, cut the Baclava in diamond shapes with a sharp knife, making sure that you cut all the way to the bottom of the dish!

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

15) Slap it into your preheated 170 degrees c oven for aboutttttttt 35 mins or until it is golden all over and then up the heat tp about 200 degrees c and totally crisp up the top for no longer than 7 mins! For that ‘heat blast’ moment, DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO LEAVE THE KITCHEN OR TAKE YOUR EYES OFF IT – the last thing you want after all the effort is a burnt mess! So once the colour looks great to you, take the Baclava out of the oven, and as sooooooooooon, and I really mean AS SOON as it hits the benchtop, pour the fridge-cold syrup all over it, aiming for the diagonal lines in the pastry so that it realllllllllllly seeps right down deep into the dish!

IT’S DONE!

GOLDEN, DELICIOUS, SWEET AND ULTRA CRUNCHY!

ALLOW TO COOL THEN REMOVE FROM TRAY!

BOIL THE KETTLE AND JUMP IN!

TIL NEXT TIME……