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. 

Spinach, Mushroom & Almond Feta Spanakopita

Ingredients

2 bunches of spinach, silver beet or other dark leafy greens, sliced

2 cups mushrooms, sliced

1 bunch of garlic chives, finely sliced

1 1/2 cups almond feta or boconcini

1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric

1/2 teaspoon ground fenugreek

1 packet phyllo pastry

approx 1/2 cup olive oil

sesame seeds

Method

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C.

Sauté mushrooms in a splash of water for 3-4 minutes.

Add spinach (or silver beet) and sauté until wilted (approx 1-2 minutes). Set aside to cool.

Place in large mixing bowl with almond feta, chives, and spices, and stir to mix.

Unroll phyllo pastry and lay one sheet on a clean bench. Brush one half with olive oil, then fold in half cross-wise. Brush one half of the (now) square pastry with more olive oil, and fold in half again to form a long rectangle.

Spoon a generous tablespoon of mixture into the top left corner of the pastry rectangle, and 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 a greased baking tray. Continue making more spanakopita until pastry or mixture is used up. (We often have some pastry left over, which gets used for other pies.)

Brush tops with olive oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake in oven for approx 20 minutes or until golden.