Vegan Spanakopita - cheez Filo Pie
- 12 cup olive oil
- 2 12 lbs fresh spinach, cleaned & trimmed
- 6 green onions, finely chopped
- 3 fresh garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup fresh dill, chopped (or sub about 4 tbsp dried)
- 2 lbs firm tofu
- 13 cup lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 1 dash nutmeg
- 34 cup ground walnuts
- 14 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon sea salt (to taste)
- pepper
- 1 lb phyllo pastry, defrosted overnight in the fridge (1 frozen package usually)
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a saute pan.
- Add in the spinach, green onion, garlic and dill.
- Stir frequently until the spinach is limp and the liquid that sweats out has boiled away.
- Set aside.
- Drain tofu, wrap in towels and gently press out any excess liquid.
- Mash the tofu in a bowl (using hands is easiest).
- Add in the spinach mixture along with the lemon juice, oregano, nutmeg, walnuts, nutritional yeast, salt & pepper and 4 more tbsp of the olive oil.
- Adjust the seasonings to your taste.
- *Most likely you have purchased frozen filo.
- It's best to defrost overnight in the refrigerator.
- If you leave it to thaw at room temperature, the sheets are more likely to stick together.
- Filo can be tricky at first since it's paper thin.
- You have to work fairly quickly as it dries out and hardens, then breaks or cracks very easily.
- A trick that has always worked for me is to keep the extra dough covered with a damp towel.
- Use a 9x13" baking dish, oil it lightly.
- Lay out one sheet of filo in the baking dish, the filo will overlap the sides.
- Brush that first sheet with some oil then lay another sheet on top.
- Brush the second one with oil and keep repeating until you have 8 sheets stacked up & oiled.
- Spread half the spinach mixture over the filo sheets then lay another 8 sheets down, oiling in between.
- Spread the second half of the spinach mixture over top and then lay the rest of the filo sheets on top, oiling in between as you did before.
- Brush the top with oil and tuck the edges of the filo into the pan as best you can to get a neat looking top.
- Bake uncovered for 35-40 minutes until golden brown and crispy.
olive oil, fresh spinach, green onions, garlic, fresh dill, lemon juice, oregano, nutmeg, ground walnuts, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, phyllo pastry
Taken from www.food.com/recipe/vegan-spanakopita-cheez-filo-pie-427720 (may not work)