Everyone loves spanikopita. Spinach pie. That glorious staple of Greco-American cuisine with a blend of spinach and cheese layered in flaky, buttery filo dough…
However, my husband has decided to go vegan, so I had to get a little creative. To deveganify this recipe, add a cup of feta cheese, use real butter, and/or add two eggs to bind the filling together.
4 shallots, thinly sliced. Or a half a normal onion, diced.
6 button mushrooms, diced
a heap of garlic
a quantity of oil suitable to saute the above.
2 10 oz packages of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 bunch fresh dill
2 heaping tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 c cashews, crushed
splash of lemon juice
salt to taste
1/2 tsp sambar masala
chaat masala
1/4 c non dairy butter substitute of your choice, melted *I refer to this substance as butter in the recipe, as it is shorter to type and I’m lazy. I suppose I could do a find and replace, but again, lazy.
[1/2 c feta cheese crumbles, and 2 eggs if you are going the non vegan route]
1 roll frozen pre made filo dough, thawed. Leave wrapped until filling is ready to go.
Saute shallots, mushrooms, and garlic. Stir in spinach and dill and mix thoroughly. Add nutritional yeast and cashews, continuing to stir. Add sambar powder and salt to taste. Add lemon juice once spices are mixed in.
[If you are going the non vegan cheesy eggy route, remove filling from heat and allow to cool below eggy cooking temperature. Once it has cooled, mix in cheese and eggs]
They say filo is hard to work with, but here are my tips for making it easier: go fast. Don’t worry about what it looks like. If a couple sheets get stuck together, don’t worry about it, keep going. This step is easier if you can convince a minion to either separate the dough or brush on the butter.
Prep your assembly line- remember, speed is of the essence. you need a bowl of melted butter substitute, a 13×9 pan, your filling, chaat masala, and your filo dough. Don’t open the dough until everything else is ready.
Preheat your oven to 350F.
ready, set, GO! (starting gun fires and you spring into action. )
peel off the first layer of filo and place in the bottom of your pan. Brush with a bit of butter. it should not be soaking wet, just a light coating. Repeat 9 times to give your spanikopita a strong base. If you notice your layers becoming translucent, back off on the butter. This isn’t a wet t-shirt contest, and there’s nothing to see but the bottom of your pan at this point, anyway. Once you have 10 layers down, dump in the filling and spread evenly. Sprinkle liberally with chaat masala. Fast! Fast! Your dough is drying while you’re trying to get everything perfectly even. It doesn’t matter, it all tastes the same in the end. Add another layer of dough, a bit more butter, and continue layering until you have used all the sheets of dough. Give the top sheet a good soaking with butter, this will make it come out nice and brown. Put it in the oven – if you were superfast, you may even have beat the pre-heat. woot. go you. It doesn’t matter, really: stick it in the oven, anyway. Bake at 350 for about 30-35 minutes until the top is golden brown.
Mango Mellon 