Spinach, Mushroom & Almond Feta Spanakopita
Dairy free | Vegan | Easy-to-make
These little Spanakopitas are healthy, very quick to prepare and super delicious.
Trust us, you won't miss the dairy!
We generally serve them with a crunchy salad on the side,
(like this red & green cabbage, fresh chili, & chive salad
with an olive oil & apple cider vinegar dressing).
If there are leftovers (unlikely because they are hard to resist!),
they also taste scrumptious cold and are perfect to pack into
a lunchbox for school or work.
We have discovered a locally made almond feta,
available at our favourite Melbourne wholefoods store,
Apples & Sage,
which works beautifully in this recipe.
(It's the Damona brand for Australian readers.)
Of course, you can use any good store-bought or
home-made almond feta instead.
(It's one of the next things we want to try making,
having had lots of success with cashew cheese.)
Damona also make a brilliant vegan (soy based) bocconcini
which adds a creamy texture to the Spanakopita,
and we like to use a mixture of both in this recipe.
But use whatever version of soft plant cheese
is available to you - because it's a very forgiving recipe.
If you can’t eat nuts, you can also make this with tofu instead,
which we often do. That is equally delicious.
In that case, we up the quantities of the flavouring ingredients
(herbs and spices, miso, etc. and also add some nutritional yeast for some
umami depth).
Spinach, Mushroom & Almond Feta Spanakopita
INGREDIENTS
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
2 x bunches silver beet, English spinach or other dark leafy greens, washed well and finely sliced
¼ teaspoon River Murray salt flakes
½ teaspoon barley miso
1 bunch garlic chives, finely sliced
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh or ½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 ½ cups almond feta or vegan boconcini
1 packet (375gm) phyllo pastry
approximately ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
sesame seeds for sprinkling (about 1 tablespoon)
METHOD
Remove phyllo pastry from fridge about 1 hour before you begin cooking so that it can come to room temperature. (This is so that it is less likely to crack, and is easier to handle.)
Preheat oven to 220 degrees C (fan forced).
Sauté mushrooms and turmeric in a splash of olive oil, in a large frying pan, for 3-4 minutes.
Add finely sliced silver beet/spinach/greens and sauté until wilted. Turn off heat, add salt, chives and miso, stir well and set aside to cool.
Place mixture in large mixing bowl with almond feta (or vegan boconcini), chives and thyme and stir to mix.
Unroll phyllo pastry and lay flat on a clean bench. Cover with a damp tea towel.
Take one sheet of pastry and lay it out in front of you. Brush one half cross-wise with olive oil, and fold in half to form a square. Fold in half again to form a long rectangle.
Spoon a generous amount of filling mixture into the top left corner of your square rectangle.
Fold/roll the corner over to form a triangle. Continue fold/rolling from side to side until you get to the end of the pastry strip.
Place on an oiled baking tray.
Continue making more spanakopita until pastry or mixture is used up. (We often have some pastry left over, which gets used up for other pies.)
Brush tops with olive oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Bake in 220 degree C oven for approximately 20 minutes or until golden crispy brown.
Cool slightly and enjoy!
If you try the recipe, please share your thoughts in the comments. Your feedback is helpful to others.
