Easy Vegan Spinach Pies
A diet with absolutely no animal products may seem like a lot of hard work to some, a lot of boring and austere meals to others, but one sure fire trick is to become any expert at using phyllo dough and you will be able to produce a range of fantastic, gourmet vegan treats (if you don’t fancy spinach, you can find more online recipes here). A good place to start is with a simple spinach pie or spanikopita. The trick to using the thin phyllo sheets is to have a very organized work place and work very very fast. Start with only half of the sheets and keep the other half wrapped up tight. Some people suggest keeping the unused sheets under a damp cloth while you work, but I have never found this convenient.You will need:
- 1 package of phyllo dough
- 1 large bunch of fresh spinach
- 1 cup of fresh dill
- 1 cup olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- crumbled seasoned tofu (optional)
Preheat your oven to 375f /190c. Prepare the filling by pulsing the cleaned spinach and dill in the bowl of a food processor until it is very finely chopped. Remove from the bowl and with your hands squeeze out any excess liquid. Season with salt and pepper. Take the package of dough and with a very sharp knife, cut the roll in half. Wrap the unused half very tightly in plastic wrap. Fill a cup with olive oil, and generously spread a baking tray with olive oil. Set out a large clean cutting board to work on. Take the half of the phyllo you are going to work with out of the package and place on your work surface so it is vertical. spread the bottom third with oil using a pastry brush, fold over, and spread that with oil, then fold over again. Basically you will have three layers with oil between each one. Now spread most of the strip with oil. Place a spoonful of filling at the top of the left edge of the strip. Fold the edge to make a triangle, fold that triangle over, then fold over again, until the strip is used up. This may seem more complicated than you think, but basically you want to get the spinach, on the inside surrounded by layers of dough. Your first ones may not be that beautiful, but they will taste delicious. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown, and experiment with other fillings!
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