Planet VeGMeL week (Part 2) - Easy as Vegan Pie Spanikopita

Carla's blog has been one of my favourites on Planet VeGMeL for quite some time. The photography is always stunning and the recipes simple to follow but very tasty. A few of the Easy as Vegan Pie recipes that have been big hits are Roast Vegie Cheesy Pie, Lentil Stew, Roasted Cauliflower and Caramelised Onion Tart and some of the Yotam Ottolenghi salads.

Carla's spanikopita pie has been on my list to try for quite some time and the main reason it hasn't been done yet is due to a previous filo/phyllo mishap on my first spanakopita attempt. At the time I swore that spanakopita or any other recipe requiring filo would never be made again despite it being devoured and adored. That was some time ago now so it was time to face my filo fears and have my first attempt at a vegan spanakopita.

During the construction of this pie I realised that my former filo woes were probably magnified by the fact that I didn't have a proper pie dish at the time. My recollections of that last disaster were trying to line filo sheets in a loaf pan and that was no mean feat. I made a couple of minor additions which was to fry an onion and the garlic (I doubled the quantity) prior to adding them to the tofu/spinach mixture. By the 30 minute mark, the top of the pie looked ready however peeking through the holes in the bottom of the pie tin showed that the bottom layer of pastry wasn't equally cooked. This made me decide to move the pie dish to the lower rack of the oven for the last 10 minutes of baking.

The spanikopita was served with a Greek Country salad (minus the feta) from Stephanie Alexander's The Cooks Companion. For someone whose taste is currently impaired, this pie was surprisingly flavoursome. Another big thumbs up from me for Carla's pies!!!

Fingers crossed my taste buds are getting back to normal for day 3 of Planet VeGMel week...