These Vegan Butternut Squash and Spinach Pithiviers are the perfect centrepiece for any vegan dinner. Serve them for dinner parties or even Christmas dinner.
Vegan main courses
People often worry about vegan main courses being bland and boring. They often immediately think of meals packed full of beans and lentils. As tasty as they are there's so much more to vegan food!
If I'm having a special meal, for example a roast dinner at Easter or Christmas, or perhaps hosting a dinner party, I want something delicious that's going to keep people satisfied. These Vegan Butternut Squash and Spinach Pathiviers do just that.
What is a pithivier?
A pithivier is best described as a type of upside down pie. Instead of a flat top it is domed.
A pithivier is formed by taking a circle of puff pastry, adding the filling on top then encasing it with another circle of pastry.
You can fill it with almost anything and pithiviers can be sweet or savoury. For my vegan pithivier recipe I've decided to fill it with butternut squash, spinach and vegan cheese. Delicious!
One of the stand out features of the pithivier is that it is decorated with spiral cuts on top.
Where can I get vegan puff pastry?
Vegan puff pastry is surprisingly easy to get hold of. Unless stated as "all butter" you might be surprised to find that ready rolled puff pastry is often vegan. Just check the back of the packet before you purchase it!
You could of course make your own puff pastry (if you want to impress!) I have in depth instructions on how to make your own here.
How do I assemble a vegan pithivier?
Once you have prepped your fillings and obtained your puff pastry all that is left to do is assemble. I do this in layers.
The first layer is cheese. The second is the butternut squash. For the third layer I add the spinach. Then finally the fourth layer is another layer of cheese! (The more cheese the better right?)
These layers get stacked on top of your pastry base and then covered with another layer of pastry.
Now you know the basics let's take a look at the recipe.
The recipe
Vegan Butternut Squash and Spinach Pithiviers
Ingredients
- 500 g vegan puff pastry
- 250 g butternut squash peeled and thinly sliced with any seeds removed
- 250 g baby spinach
- 2 sage leaves thinly sliced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 100 g vegan cheese grated
- 1 tablespoon soy milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/356F/gas 4.
- Heat a pan of water and add the slices of butternut squash.
- Cook until fork tender then remove from the pan and leave to cool.
- In the meantime wilt the spinach and leave to cool slightly.
- Once the spinach is cool, squeeze out all of the liquid.
- Roll out the pastry and cut out 4 discs, The first two discs should be roughly 1 inch wider than the size of your butternut squash slices. The other two should be roughly another inch wider than that.
- Take the two smallest discs and sprinkle with a little grated cheese and the sage.
- Layer the slices of butternut squash on top followed by the spinach and more cheese.
- Season well as you add the layers.
- Make sure the filling is dome shaped.
- Take the larger rounds of pastry and drape over the top of the pile of filling.
- Using a fork, press the edges of the bottom disc of pastry and the top disc of pastry together.
- Using a sharp knife, score a spiral pattern on top of the pithivier.
- Brush with the soy milk.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 30-35 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden.
Nutrition
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