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Vegan Butternut Squash And Feta Phyllo Pie

Vegan butternut squash and feta phyllo pie – this impressive vegan spiral pie is easier to make than it looks and tastes amazing! Roasted butternut squash is paired with tangy vegan almond feta cheese, herbs and a touch of chilli, all wrapped up in crisp filo pastry.
Course Main Course
Cuisine vegan
Keyword pie
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings 8 people
Author Domestic Gothess

Ingredients

Almond Cheese:

  • 200 g (2 cups) flaked skinless almonds
  • 60 ml (¼ cup) lemon juice
  • 60 ml (¼ cup) olive oil
  • 60 ml (¼ cup) water
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 tablespoon nutritional yeast
  • 1 ½ teaspoon salt

Pie:

  • 1 large butternut squash about 1.3 - 1.4 kg unprepared weight
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil (plus extra for brushing)
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves only
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves only
  • 2 spring onions (scallions) thinly sliced
  • ½ teaspoon chilli flakes
  • 50 g (⅓ cup) toasted pine nuts
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 packs phyllo (filo) pastry (about 20 sheets total)

Instructions

Almond Cheese:

  • Ideally you should make the almond cheese the day before assembling the pie, though it is not strictly necessary if you are in a rush.
  • Place the flaked almonds in a large bowl and cover with plenty of boiling water. Set aside for at least half an hour to soak then drain them well.
  • Place the drained almonds in a blender or food processor along with the lemon juice, olive oil, water, salt, garlic and nutritional yeast.
  • Blend at a high speed until very smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides as needed to make sure that there are no lumps of almond left. If you need to you can add a drop more water but try not to add too much. If your blender has a tamper tool then I recommend using it!
  • Scrape the cheese into a bowl and cover. It is ready to eat right away but will firm up in the fridge and the flavours will mellow so I recommend refrigerating it overnight before eating. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

Pie:

  • Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/gas mark 6. Line a baking sheet or 26-88cm round cake tin with baking parchment.
  • Peel and de-seed the butternut squash then cut it into approx 1cm dice. Toss it with the 2 tablespoon of olive oil and a little salt then spread the dice out across a couple of baking trays and roast for about half an hour until the squash is tender.
  • Meanwhile, mix all of the almond feta cheese with the chopped fresh thyme, rosemary, spring onions, chilli flakes, toasted pine nuts and plenty of black pepper.
  • Very gently stir in the roasted butternut squash and add salt to taste. Try not to mash the squash too much. Depending on the size of your butternut squash you may not need to add all of it.
  • To assemble the pie, lay a sheet of filo pastry on a work surface with the long side facing you (keep the rest of the pastry covered with a damp tea towel to prevent it from drying out). Brush one of the short edges with a little olive oil and lay another sheet of pastry on the work surface, overlapping the oiled short edge of the first one by about 5cm.
  • Brush the pastry all over with a little olive oil then add another two sheets on top, brush with oil again and add another two sheets if you have enough pastry, brush with oil again.
  • I used a total of 18 sheets of pastry – three two sheet wide sections, three sheets deep. If you have fewer than 18 sheets then you can just double, rather than triple layer the pastry (so a total of 12 sheets).
  • Take ⅓ of the butternut cheese mixture and form it into a long snake along the long edge of the pastry, leaving a 5cm gap at the bottom. Try and make sure that the filling is evenly spread.
  • Roll the pastry up from the bottom into a long sausage. Coil the sausage, seam side down, and place it on the lined baking sheet or into the cake tin.
  • Repeat the steps above two more times, tucking the beginning of each coil into the end of the previous one to form one long spiral. *see post above for step by step photos*
  • When you are shaping the coil, don’t panic if you get a couple of tears in the pastry. Simple tear off a scrap of unused phyllo, brush it with olive oil and use it to cover the tear; repeat with another layer if needed. No one will be able to tell!
  • Brush the pastry all over with olive oil. Bake the vegan butternut squash and feta phyllo pie for around 45 minutes until it is golden brown and crisp. Allow to cool a little before serving.

Notes

  • Different brands of filo pastry will contain different numbers of sheets of filo in varying dimensions so you may need to adjust the recipe slightly depending on how many sheets of pastry you have. I used 18 sheets (plus two extra for patching tears), from two packs of pastry. If you have fewer sheets then you can double, rather than triple layer them (so a total of 12 sheets, plus a couple for patching).
  • Make sure that your phyllo pastry is fully defrosted if it is frozen.
  • Most phyllo (or filo) pastry is vegan but do check the packet just to be sure.
  • Keep the phyllo pastry covered with a damp tea towel to prevent it from drying out. Even just a couple of minutes is enough for it to start getting dry and brittle.
  • Feel free to vary the herbs to suit you.
  • Brushing the pastry with olive oil is necessary to get it golden and crisp, don’t skip it.