Vegan Spinach Pie

I used to get this every year at the Renaissance Festival with my mom so it was very nostalgic to make these myself. The boys liked it too although they would have liked just a little bit of cheese added. Getting them to eat tofu and say that they liked it in any capacity is a feat so I am chalking this up to a success.

Vegan Spinach Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, medium diced
• 2 1/2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• Two 16 oz. packages frozen spinach
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp pepper, black or white
• 1 Tbs of nutritional yeast (or cheese if you eat dairy)
• 1 block tofu, extra extra firm
• 1/3 C. vegetable stock + more for sautéing (this replaced oil in the original recipe so you can do full stock, half and half or oil, whichever you prefer)
• 1 Tbs. low sodium soy sauce or Tamari
• 1 large lemon, juiced (or more, to taste)
• 1 tsp. salt
• Earth balance butter (or your choice)
• 1/2 Tbs. soymilk (you can sub skim if you eat dairy)
• 20 sheets phyllo dough (found in the freezer section)
• Cooking spray

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Saute onion and garlic using vegetable stock (or oil) in skillet. Add spinach, sauté 5 minutes. Add nutmeg and pepper. Remove from heat.

3. In food processor, pulse tofu, vegetable stock, soy sauce, soymilk, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, and salt until the tofu looks crumbly. Add seasonings to taste. Set aside.

4. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray (or oil if you don’t have the spray), line it with 10 or so sheets of phyllo dough. Spread melted butter on top of dough then spread a layer of tofu mixture. Spread spinach mixture evenly on top of tofu mixture then add a few sheets (about 5) on top of the spinach mixture and spread with melted butter. Repeat once more until you reach the top of the dish and layer with 10 sheets of dough finishing it off with a swipe of melted butter (this will make it golden brown and crispy on top).

 

 

 

5. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 375 degrees, or until the phyllo turns slightly brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes.