Walnut and pistachio baklava

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6. Lay the walnuts out on a large roasting tray and bake until lightly toasted, about 6–8 mins, stirring halfway through so that they cook evenly. Set aside to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the syrup. Lay the cardamom pods out on a chopping board and use the flat side of a knife to press down to crack them open. Remove the black seeds and add these to a medium saucepan with the sugar, 125ml water and the rose water. Place over a medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved, about 4–6 mins, then add the lemon juice and turn the heat up to medium. Boil for 8–10 mins, until the syrup has thickened, being careful as boiling sugar is extremely hot. Once ready, carefully pour the syrup through a fine sieve into a heatproof bowl or jug to remove the cardamom seeds, then discard these. Set aside to cool.

Lower the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4. To make the walnut filling, add the cooled walnuts to a food processor with the sugar and blend until it has a medium coarse consistency, keeping some slightly larger chunks of walnut.

Lay out 1 pack of your filo sheets on a chopping board then place a 26x19x5.5cm baking tin on top and cut around it so that the filo is the same size as the base. Brush the base of the dish with some of the melted ghee, then add a filo sheet and brush the top with more ghee. Cover the remaining filo sheets with a clean, damp tea towel while you are assembling to ensure they don’t dry out. Repeat until you have 5 layers of filo, brushing each sheet with ghee, then spread with ? of the walnut mixture using the back of a spoon. Add a further 5 sheets of filo in the same way as before and another ? of the walnut mixture. Open and cut the second pack of filo sheets to size when the first pack is finished. Top this with another 5 sheets of filo and ghee, then spread over the remaining walnut mixture. Finally, finish with your last filo sheets and ghee. Lightly press down on the final filo sheet before brushing to ensure the layers are completely pressed together.

Use a sharp knife to carefully cut a diamond pattern into the baklava, each roughly 3–4cm in size. Don’t worry too much if you can’t cut all the way through on each piece as you can do this again before serving.

Bake for 45 mins, until golden brown. Meanwhile, blend the pistachios in a food processor until finely ground, then set aside. If the baklava hasn’t browned enough after this time, you can put it under a hot grill for 1–2 mins. Carefully and evenly pour over the syrup while the baklava is still warm, then scatter with the pistachios and leave to cool completely in the tin before serving.