Spanakopita
I love spanakopita. I adore spanakopita. If Derek would let me, I’d name our first born spanakopita. I’ve never tried to make them on my own, however; I wasn’t sure I could bear to see how much butter and cheese I was ingesting in my favorite of dishes. When I saw the recipe for vegan spanakopita in Vegan with a Vengeance I was intrigued, to put it mildly. Derek and I had fun putting the layers together (especially without a pastry brush for the oil), and the final dish looked delicious when we pulled it from the oven. The taste, however, was quite disappointing. Can you say bland-sad-mockery-of-my-favorite-dish-ever? We didn’t skimp at all on the fat, so it wasn’t that we tried to make it too low fat. I think maybe spanakopita without feta is just a no-go. I tasted the “feta” made from tofu before it went into the casserole, and I found it quite bland tasting. I should have known at that point the recipe wasn’t going to be any good. Derek actually said he liked it more than me, having two pieces for dinner. However, the rest of the pan stayed in the fridge all week, untouched, so he obviously didn’t like it that much. I’m not going to bother to post the recipe.
I do have to thank Isa for inspiring me however–I’m now determined to try my hand at making the real thing.
Rating:D
Derek: C
The captious vegetarian 
pennylane said,
September 25, 2007 at 6:51 am
I think tofu is used too much as a substitute for things which taste nothing like it. If I were to make spanakopita without the feta, I’d add olives instead, for that strong, salty flavour, and plenty of green onions and toasted pine-nuts to compensate for the cheese…
captious said,
September 25, 2007 at 8:17 am
I think you’re right pennylane. Your idea actually sounds pretty similar to this mediterranean empanada I get here in Montreal. It’s tasty, that’s for sure. Still, I think next time I’ll stick with feta.