Vegan Spinach & Walnut ‘Ricotta’ Pie

Walnut ‘Ricotta’

1. Soak the cashews and walnuts for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight.
2. Thoroughly rinse the cashew nuts and blend with the 175ml of water until completely smooth and creamy. Add more water if necessary but only bit by bit as you want the mixture to be as thick as possible (whilst still remaining smooth).
3. (Optional step) Add the probiotic capsule and blend again. Cover the cashew mix with cling film and leave to ferment (at room temperature for minimum 4 hours.
4. Thoroughly rinse the walnuts and then finely chop them into small pieces.
5. In a large bowl, add the walnut pieces to the cashew mix, then add the remaining ingredients.
6. Stir everything together and taste to see if it needs more salt, lemon juice or nutritional yeast.

Other ingredients

1. In a large frying pan, fry the onion until soft and golden then add the garlic and fry for another two minutes.
2. Add the spinach and cook until thoroughly wilted.
3. Remove everything from the pan and squeeze out the excess water using a sieve.
4. Leave to cool before stiring into the ‘ricotta’ mix and then stir in the nutmeg.
5. Using a 20cm loose bottom cake tin, grease the bottom of the tin using a layer of olive oil.
6. Lightly brush 4-5 sheets of filo pastry with olive oil.
7. Place one sheet of filo pastry onto the bottom of the tin and allow the excess pastry to fall over the top. Layer another sheet at 90º and continue in this way until you’ve layered about 4-5 sheets.
8. Spoon the mixture into the pastry sheets and then fold the corners of the pastry into the middle.
9. If you have any gaps in the pastry, scrunch up a sheet of filo and place it into the gap.
10. Lightly brush or spray the top of the pastry with olive oil and place in the oven for approximately 30 minutes or until lightly golden.