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Hungarian poppy seed and apple strudel

Silvena Rowe from Great Food Live
Silvena Rowe gives a taste of Eastern Europe with this sophisticated roll of buttery filo pastry filled with nuts, seeds and fruit

Hungarian poppy seed and apple strudel

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4.

2. Make the filling first. Place the water and sugar in a small saucepan, bring to the boil, and simmer for no longer than 2 minutes to dissolve the sugar. Add the sultanas and ground poppy seeds and set aside to cool.

3. Peel and thinly slice the apples and place in a large mixing bowl. When the sugar syrup has cooled, pour it over the apples, mixing well.

4. Prepare a large baking sheet by brushing it with some of the melted butter. Start laying filo sheets on top of it, one at a time, brushing liberally with butter and sprinkling generously with the ground almonds in between each layer. Once you have used three filo sheets, spread the pastry thinly with the apple and poppy seed mixture.

5. Continue layering the filo sheets, melted butter and almonds. Spread again with the apples and poppy seed mixture after the next three sheets, and again after three, until all 12 filo pastry sheets have been used. If any are damaged, replace them with the spare sheets of filo.

6. Roll up the pastry like a Swiss roll and tuck in the ends. Turn the strudel seam-side down and place on the greased baking sheet. Brush with the remaining butter and sprinkle with the whole poppy seeds. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.

7. Let the strudel cool completely before you cut it. To finish, dust with icing sugar and serve.