* Exported from MasterCook * Harvest Vegetable Pie Recipe By : Vegetarian Times Serving Size : 8 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Main Dishes Thanksgiving/Christmas Vegan Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 56 oz Whole tomatoes in tomato juice - (2 cans) 2 cl garlic -- minced 2 tb tomato paste 30 oz Washed ready to eat salad spinach - (3 bags fresh or 3 pkg frozen) -- - thawed 1/2 ts Nutmeg -- freshly grated 1 ts Salt -- divided 1 ts Black pepper -- freshly ground, divided 2 lb Mushrooms -- stems included, cleaned 4 c Yellow onions -- thinly sliced 1 ts Sugar 1 c Feta cheese -- crumbled 4 Eggs or Egg Beaters or substitute -- beaten 1 c Mozzarella cheese -- divided 10 Phyllo dough sheets In large colander or sieve set over bowl, drain tomatoes. Save juice, covered & refrigerated, for later use. Cut tomatoes in half; place cut side down in colander; drain well. Squeeze seeds out of cut halves. Chop each tomato half into 8 pieces. Place tomatoes in lightly oiled 12" nonstick skillet. Saute over high heat, stirring, until all juices have evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add garlic; cook, stirring until garlic is soft, about 3 minutes. Add tomato paste; stir gently to combine. Cook until no juice remains, about 5 minutes. Turn tomato mixture onto large plate lined with paper towels to cool. Cook spinach in batches with 1 cup water in skillet, covered, over high heat until spinach wilts, about 5 minutes. Remove to colander to drain and cool. Squeeze spinach by handfuls until very dry. (If using frozen chopped thawed spinach, skip the cooking step and squeeze until no more moisture can be extracted.) Chop spinach finely with knife on cutting board. Return to colander to drain. Squeeze a second time. In medium bowl, mix spinach with nutmeg, 1/2 ts salt, and 1/2 ts pepper. Place on paper towel lined plate. Trim woody ends from mushroom stems. In a food processor, using shredding blade, shred mushrooms finely in batches. (Can mince with a knife in batches on cutting board.) In lightly oiled skillet over high heat, saute mushrooms, stirring, until all moisture evaporates, up to 20 minutes. Season with remaining 1/2 ts salt and 1/2 ts pepper. Turn onto paper towel lined plate to cool. In lightly oiled skillet, saute onions with sugar, stirring, until onions are caramelized but not burned, about 20 minutes. Turn out onto paper towel lined plate to cool. At this point, the four filling ingredients may be put into separate self-seal plastic bags, each with a folded paper towel, and refrigerated. To Assemble Pie: Preheat oven to 350 F. In a medium bowl, mix together feta, eggs, and spinach. Unfold phyllo sheets. Lay flat on length of waxed paper. Cover top completely with clean damp towel. Lightly oil a 9 to 10" round springform pan. Remove one sheet of phyllo from top. Cover remaining sheets with a damp towel. Working with the edges toward center, spray or brush phyllo sheet lightly with olive oil or butter-flavored or olive oil cooking spray. Ease sheet onto bottom of springform pan. Pat dough against sides; let excess hang out over pan edge. Repeat with second sheet at an angle to first sheet. Repeat with third, fourth, and fifth sheets at angles so all four quarters of the pan are covered. Layer in 4 additional oiled sheets. Oil both sides of an additional sheet of phyllo; fold in half and ease into bottom of pan (for support of bottom of pie). Add fillings in layers as follows: spinach-feta-egg mixture, mushrooms, 1/2 cup mozzarella, tomatoes, 1/2 cup mozzarella, onions. Bring phyllo sheets up over top of pie and spray lightly with oil. Lightly oil another phyllo sheet. Cut into fourths, cutting along shot side of rectangle. Fold each piece in half lengthwise. Roll up *loosely* jelly-roll fashion. Pinch at bottom to make a rose and spread side slightly to make petals. Repeat with each piece. Place 4 phyllo roses in center of pie, pinching phyllo top to attach. Place springform pan on baking sheet to catch any drips. Bake in center of oven until phyllo is golden brown and filling is completely cooked, about 1 hour. (If some areas, such as roses, begin to get too brown, cover those areas with foil.) Remove from oven. Let sit for 10-15 minutes. With a small thin spatula, loosen phyllo from pan dies. Unclasp springform pan and remove sides. Lift pie (leaving bottom of springform pan with pie) onto a serving plate. Decorate sides of plate, if desired, with parsley, flowers, leaves, etc. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Notes: The success of this layered vegetable pie depends upon making sure all ingredients are as dry as possible, so don't stint on cooking times. You can make the four filling ingredients a day ahead and store them in the refrigerator in plastic bags with a clean dry paper towel tucked in to absorb excess moisture. Fresh spinach has a much better flavor than frozen. One 12" skillet may be used to prepare each set of filling ingredients. Simply rinse with hot water and dry in between. Vegan Variation: Omit eggs and feta in spinach layer and substitute 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella-type soy cheese and 10 oz package of Japanese-style firm silken tofu that has been drained and pressed to extract moisture. In the tomato and mushrooms layers, substitute 1/2 cup soy mozzarella for dairy cheese.