Vegan Spanakopita - "cheez" Filo Pie

I've been looking for a way to enjoy spanakopita without feta and found this recipe on www.theveggietable.com. I believe it was adapted from Vegan with a Vengance. So as a fan of Isa Chanda Moskowitz I'm sure this is going to be great. If you've ever made spanakopita you already know it can be a time consuming thing to prepare, but usually well worth the effort. One of those oil spray pumps can be very helpful with this. *Note that you have to plan ahead and defrost your filo beforehand (see note below about that). Authentic filo contains eggs, I don't know if most of today's modern (frozen) brands are vegan or not, so be sure to check. UPDATE JAN/11: c marcella pointed out below that authentic phyllo would not contain eggs, so I stand corrected on that point. Thanks c marcella.

• Ready In: 1 hr 20 mins
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1⁄2 cup olive oil
• 2 1⁄2 lbs fresh spinach, cleaned & trimmed
• 6  green onions, finely chopped
• 3  fresh garlic cloves, minced
• 1  cup fresh dill, chopped (or sub about 4 tbsp dried)
• 2  lbs firm tofu
• 1⁄3 cup lemon juice
• 2  tablespoons dried oregano
• 1  dash nutmeg
• 3⁄4 cup ground walnuts
• 1⁄4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1  teaspoon sea salt (to taste)
•  pepper
• 1  lb phyllo pastry, defrosted overnight in the fridge (1 frozen package usually)

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a saute pan. Add in the spinach, green onion, garlic and dill. Stir frequently until the spinach is limp and the liquid that sweats out has boiled away. Set aside.
3. Drain tofu, wrap in towels and gently press out any excess liquid. Mash the tofu in a bowl (using hands is easiest). Add in the spinach mixture along with the lemon juice, oregano, nutmeg, walnuts, nutritional yeast, salt & pepper and 4 more tbsp of the olive oil. Adjust the seasonings to your taste.
4. *Most likely you have purchased frozen filo. It's best to defrost overnight in the refrigerator. If you leave it to thaw at room temperature, the sheets are more likely to stick together. Filo can be tricky at first since it's paper thin. You have to work fairly quickly as it dries out and hardens, then breaks or cracks very easily. A trick that has always worked for me is to keep the extra dough covered with a damp towel.
5. Use a 9x13" baking dish, oil it lightly. Lay out one sheet of filo in the baking dish, the filo will overlap the sides. Brush that first sheet with some oil then lay another sheet on top. Brush the second one with oil and keep repeating until you have 8 sheets stacked up & oiled.
6. Spread half the spinach mixture over the filo sheets then lay another 8 sheets down, oiling in between. Spread the second half of the spinach mixture over top and then lay the rest of the filo sheets on top, oiling in between as you did before.
7. Brush the top with oil and tuck the edges of the filo into the pan as best you can to get a neat looking top.
8. Bake uncovered for 35-40 minutes until golden brown and crispy.