Spanikopita

I went to make the spanikopita recipe that I had originally posted in April to use up some of the kale I picked from the garden this week. I discovered that I did not have 2 lbs regular firm tofu (I use white wave organic tofu) to complete it, but only 1 lb. This is my one and only greens time of year and I really wanted spanikopita, so the search for another recipe began. The recipe I used instead was much easier and came from Bryanna of Vegan Feast cookbook called 20 Minutes to Dinner (on p. 103). This recipe took 5 minutes to assemble and 15 minutes for baking at 450 degrees - really!

I did pick the last of my spinach today since it was beginning to go to seed, it gets bitter and tough beyond this stage. Since I had 1/2 a package of phyllo sheets already thawed from the freezer I decided to make mine with the phyllo in an 8x8" dish instead of a pizza crust style and actually only used 1/2 the package I did open (the other 1/2 roll is saved for baklava). To make the filling Bryanna says to use frozen, thawed spinach... I used fresh picked and dipped in boiling water to cook spinach (squeezed dry) AND I also had the opportunity to use fresh dill from my first ever herb box (love it!).

THE RECIPE for the filling I used
12 oz medium firm tofu (not silken)
2 Tbsp light miso
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 lb kale or spinach greens (boiled or steamed soft and squeezed dry), chopped
2/3 C chopped onions (I used dried flakes about 3 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp dry dillweed or 1/4 C chopped fresh
1/2 tsp salt
opt. red pepper slices to decorate the top
Mash all ingredients together (do not blend because the tofu should be slightly chunky

Dori Note: spinach takes a quick dip in boiling water and maybe 1 minute of cooking, tougher greens such a kale take a bit longer, about 3 minutes cook time to get soft. Greens can be frozen after cookinig (I only do this with tougher greens like kale and turnips). I put them in little snack size baggies and then in a freezer bag. Then I just thaw, chop and add to whatever dish I am making.

To assemble the pretty dish you see above I used three phyllo sheets and sprayed each with olive oil before lining the dish (each sheet sprayed and placed in dish individually, since my dish was 8x8 I had to fold the phyllo sheet so the phyllo actually ended up two layers of 6 sheets). I then placed 1/2 the filling and repeated. For the top I took two pastry sheets and cut them up, oil sprayed them, and scrunched before placing them around the edges of my dish to make it look like a thick puffy crust. I layed red pepper slices for looks on the top for looks and they roasted as I cooked the dish so were still yummy to eat.

My daughter made herbed oven fries for the first time and they turned out wonderful too (see pix). They were actually baking at the same time as my spanikopita. She is starting her own blog too and made pineapple sherbert popsicles this week... awesome. I'll post a link to her when she gets her pictures uploaded (SEE MY SIDE BAR THE LINK IS THERE TO HER BLOG!). These popsicles were tofu creamy and and wonderfully tropical with the pineapple.

BRYANNA'S POPSICLE RECIPES
from the Vegan Feast Free Recipe Archives (August 2004)

My final plate had some spanikopita, potatoes and Persian style green hummous (see recipe link on MwM recipe) on the side. I had a pix of my plate uploaded, but then accidentally deleted it - darn it and now cannot get it back. I wish blogger offered an UNDO button as I have done this many times before.