Vegan Spanokopita

I love Greek food… and every time I visit my sister we always order from this little Greek restaurant next to her place. I loooove to order myself a Stuffed Pita Sandwich made with Greek Salad inside. It’s so delicious I even crave it as soon as I book my flight to FL.

For a while, my sister avoided dairy… and she loves to eat the spanakopita triangles at the Greek restaurant I mentioned above. So as the big sister, I decided to make her some spanakopitas she could actually enjoy without the side-effects dairy was bringing her for a while.

Here’s my take on cheese-free vegan spanakopitas…

DAIRY-FREE VEGAN SPANAKOPITAS

• 1 packet of whole wheat phyllo dough – 16 sheets
• 1 ½ packets frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
• 1 container Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese
• ½ container Tofutti Better than Sour Cream
• ½ container Tofutti Better than Ricotta
• 2 yellow lemons – zest and juice
• 1 sweet onion, chopped finely
• ½ cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
• ½ cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1 tbs Kosher Salt
• ½ tbs Pepper
• About ½ cup Olive Oil, divided

In a large bowl combine the spinach, onions, cream cheese, sour cream and ricotta, parsley, basil and a drizzle of olive oil. Add the zest of the 2 lemons and follow adding the juice, making sure you avoid getting lemon seeds in the mix. Season generously with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Combine well and set aside.

To prepare working with phyllo dough I first gather 2 clean kitchen towels and I get them wet and squeeze them dry so now they’re thoroughly damp. One will be to cover the unused phyllo sheets and the other one to cover the spanakopita pockets after they’re aseembled but before we bake or pack them.

Now that you have your damp cloths or towels, we gather our phyllo dough, olive oil and a teaspoon – the one you eat with, not the one you use to measure recipes. I work on a large cutting board… Place one sheet of phyllo dough on the board. Make sure you cover the unused phyllo sheets with one of the damp towels. These will maintain them pliable and ready to work with. If not, they’ll dry out and turn brittle and will be very difficult to work with in this recipe.

Drizzle in a squiggly fashion a teaspoon of olive oil over the phyllo sheet. Using the teaspoon kinda spread the squiggle trail you made… Carefully, overlap a second sheet of phyllo right on top of the first one. Drizzle a very thin stream of olive oil in the same squiggly fashion but on the opposite direction. For example, the first squiggle you went from left to right. Now the second one, go top to bottom in front of you.

Using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut the phyllo sheet stack you just created into 4 sections or strips. I cut halfway and then I cut each half in half again. This doesn’t have to be exact, although you can certainly use a ruler to measure this.

Now, add about a tablespoon of spinach filling and place in the bottom section of one of the phyllo strips, leaving about 1 inch of phyllo below where you place the spinach. Fold this bottom part of phyllo over the spinach kinda like folding a letter.

Now fold the sides of the phyllo strip inside, kinda like the way you fold in a burrito. Now, fold the section where the spinach is enclosed onto itself until a small rectangular package is formed.

Place spinach pockets in a baking sheet and cover with damp cloth as you go preparing the rest of the spanakopita pockets. You should end up with about 32 pockets over all. You could also stack up 3 sheets of phyllo to make it even flakier. Use the same method, you’ll just end up with 20 finished spanakopita pockets overall.

Now… you can either bake them or freeze them. If you decide to freeze them, just place them in freezer zipper bags in layers separating each layer using parchment paper r even waxed paper. They will keep in the freezer for a while, and are very convenient.

To bake them… just turn the oven to 375F and place the spanakopita pockets in a baking sheet that has been sprayed with olive oil spray. Place them in a single layer and spray once again over the top with a light spray of olive oil spray. Bake in oven for about 12-15 minutes until they turn golden brown. Sometimes, I just turn off the oven and leave them there to make sure the filling is nice and cooked when I take them out.

Wait a bit to bite into them because the filling will be H-O-T!!!!

These pockets are a tad larger that the triangles I am used to make. These are more fitting for a light lunch or even a light dinner. I bake myself 2-3 of these with a salad.

My sister thought they were delicious and she enjoyed the touch the lemon juice and zest provided. She did not believe these were dairy-free!!! The filling turned out creamy and delicious very similar to the original ones we enjoy so much.

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Tags: #karmafree, almond, baby spinach, cheese, lemon, phyllo, Vegan, vegetarian, whole wheat phyllo