Vegan spanakopita

I made something this evening that’s probably best described as a sort of vegan turnover with spanakopita filling.

As usual, I had one recipe and insufficient ingredients for either, so I made something up as I went along

Vegan Spanakopita

1 box frozen fillo leaves, thawed
2 boxes frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 c. chopped onion
Olive oil
2/3 c. walnuts, chopped finely
2/3 c. fine breadcrumbs
5 cloves garlic, minced
Handful of fresh mint leaves, minced
1 tbsp. dried dill weed
3 tbsp. lemon juice
1 lb. extra-firm tofu (NOT silken)
1/2 tsp. smoked salt (probably fine with regular salt, too)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Oil a couple of cookie sheets. Drain spinach in a colander for a few minutes while you saute the onions in olive oil until they’re clear. Add spinach to skillet and heat thoroughly. Transfer spinach and onions to large mixing bowl. Add next six ingredients and mix thoroughly. Mash smoked salt into tofu. Add to spinach mixture.

Lay one fillo leaf on a sheet of waxed paper. Brush lightly with olive oil. Lay a second fillo leaf on top of the first. Fold in half. Place a small handful of spinach mixture on the fillo leaf, about three inches from the left edge of the fillo. Fold end over spinach mixture. Fold top and bottom edges over about 1/2 inch. Starting on the left, fold dough over and over until you have a neat little packet of filling surrounded by dough.

Place on cookie sheets and bake at 375 F for 30 minutes.

Makes about a dozen little spinach-filled turnovers.

This recipe is kind of a hybrid between two of Mollie Katzen’s recipes: spanakopita and spinach borek. The tofu stands in nicely for the cottage cheese in the spanakopita.

Emily