Greece had us at ‘hello’! Both Duncan and myself had been to Greece a few times before we met, but I never visited any of the islands until we decided to do some low-key island hopping in the summer of 2012. We loved it so much that by the time we boarded the plane back we were plotting to sell up and move there. A year and a half later we did just that. We lived on the Greek island of Paros for four years. Although we decided to move back to the UK for a whole host of reasons, Greece still has a special place in our hearts. It gave us (especially me!) a completely new lease of life (Paros was where this blog was born) and provided a much needed reset and clarity on what we both want from life.
As it’s such a popular holiday destination, I bet heaps of you have been to Greece and, as it’s impossible not to, loved it! So I figured it’s time I veganised Greece’s national dish (no, not gyros or moussaka although I’ve tackled them both already 🙂 ). I am talking about an all round crowd pleaser – Greek spinach pie, to the initiated (i.e. the Greeks and Greek aficionados like myself) known as spanakopita! Vegan spanakopita is delicious and quite easy to put together if you are lazy like me and use shop-bought phyllo pastry 😛 . I may attempt a homemade phyllo at some point, but now is not that time. Plus the instructions are already on the long side as I really want you to get it right and love it, so shop-bought pastry it is. The filling is very easy to make, but one thing that is key is to make sure that your spinach is as dry as humanly possible. It may sound trivial, but spinach is a cunning beast. For starters, it’s well versed in the act of disappearance. You know that mountain of spinach you’ve got ready to go into a pan? It will melt to a meagre handful by the time it’s cooked. It always amazes me how much the rascal shrinks! It used to be even more heart-breaking when I used to live in Greece. The best spinach was to be found in bunches plucked straight out of the earth, complete with roots and soil, so if you wanted to make a spanakopita from scratch, you had to put half a day aside for spinach prep alone. Secondly, spinach is apt at retaining moisture so when you’ve thought to yourself ‘okay, that’s done. I’ve wrung it all out as much as I can…’ Give it another pass. I promise you some more water WILL come out. But other than grappling with spinach, this recipe is easy as pie (coincidentally) so please do not think twice about trying it. For the filling you can either use tofu or almond feta. If you use tofu, a mixture of silken and pressed cotton (the difference between silken and cotton tofu is explained here) works best at mimicking feta. If you don’t want to use soya for whatever reason, no problem – you can use a simplified version of my almond feta by using the ingredients listed below and following the method explained in this recipe.
200 g / 2 cups flaked almonds 6-7 tbsp lemon juice 5-6 tbsp unsweetened almond (or soya) milk 1 tsp salt
REMAINING INGREDIENTS
600 g / 21 oz fresh spinach, rinsed well 7 spring onions / scallions, sliced finely 4 small garlic cloves, chopped finely zest of 1-2 unwaxed lemons (I like 2) 15 g / 0.5 oz fresh mint, leaves only – finely chopped 15 g / 0.5 oz fresh dill, finely chopped 15 g / 0.5 oz fresh flat leaf parsely, finely chopped scant ½ tsp ground nutmeg, adjust to taste scant ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper, adjust to taste 4 tbsp / ¼ cup nutritional yeast 2 x 270 g / 9.5 oz vegan (a lot of them are!) phyllo pastry**, thawed in the fridge quality olive oil nigella or sesame seeds, to garnish (optional)
ASSEMBLY
