These delicious, flaky pastry triangles, filled with mushrooms and a creamy béchamel sauce, are entirely vegan. The béchamel is made with roasted leeks and sage, providing a fantastic flavor combination. Perfect for bringing to a potluck or serving as an appetizer.
On the Ingredients
- Mushrooms: If you’re looking for a food that will give you high nutrients for low fat, calorie, carb, sodium, and cholesterol, seek no further than mushrooms! They’re a great source of antioxidants (specifically selenium), Beta-glucan (a fiber known for reducing cholesterol, improving heart health, and regulating blood sugar), B vitamin (riboflavin, niacin, and pantothenic acid), copper (good for bones and nerves), and potassium (heart, muscle, and nerve function). (Read more on health benefits) Mushrooms are also a great substitute for meat, packed with umami and a great, meaty texture. With a wide variety of mushrooms available from local farms like Moorit Hill, you can mix and match subtle changes in flavor and texture.
- Leeks are an allium related to garlic, chives, and onions. They are a long white stalk that turns into green leaf sheaths. Leeks have a sweet, mildly onion-like flavor, which pairs well with potatoes, dairy, eggs, fish, and poultry. If you can’t find leeks in stock, you can substitute with green onions, white onions, or shallots. Like dill, leeks have flavonoids (antioxidants) that have anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, and anticancer properties (more on health benefits).
- Bechamel sauce is one of the “mother sauces” of French cuisine. It’s made with a white roux of butter and flour, milk, and often nutmeg. This recipe uses oat milk and flavors it with sage.
- Nutritional yeast is a type of yeast known as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the same type of yeast used for bread or beer. However, it’s inactive, making it suitable for seasoning. Because of its delicious umami flavor, it’s popular in vegan cooking, especially for cheese flavor replacement. Nutritional yeast is an excellent plant-based protein with all nine essential amino acids. Fortified Nutritional Yeast is especially rich in B vitamins, including thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), and B6 and B12. There are also trace minerals, including zinc, selenium, manganese, and molybdenum. (more on health benefits).
- Filo, also called Fillo or phyllo, is very thin, unleaded dough made from flour, water, and a small amount of oil. It’s used widely in Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisine. In the US, it’s probably best known for making baklava and Spanakopita. Because the sheets themselves are vegan, it’s a great alternative to puff pastry for many recipes, especially appetizers. Generally, the sheets are stuck together using butter or oil. After baking, it becomes extremely crisp and flaky.
Recipe Notes and Substitutions
If you want to make this recipe vegetarian but not vegan, you can use milk in the béchamel and butter instead of vegan butter. You can also make the filling alone and serve it with crusty bread, pasta, or roasted veggies. It’s delicious!
Vegan Mushroom Fillo Pockets with Roasted Leek Béchamel
These delicious, flaky pastry triangles, filled with mushrooms and a creamy béchamel sauce, are entirely vegan. The béchamel is made with roasted leeks and sage, providing a fantastic flavor combination. Perfect for bringing to a potluck or serving as an appetizer.
Ingredients
- Mushroom Mix
1 1/2 lb mushrooms (we used crimini and shiitake)
1 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic (minced)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 lb baby spinach
- Roasted Leek Bechamel
4 leeks (ones with large white sections)
2 tbsp vegan butter or olive oil
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup oat milk
1/2 cup white wine
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp fresh sage (minced)
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- Other Ingredients
1 cup vegan butter (melted) or olive oil
1 lb box of fillo dough 13x18” sheets
Directions
- To begin, remove your fillo dough box from the freezer and leave it in the refrigerator for eight hours. Then, when you start cooking, move it to the counter to reach room temperature.
- Start by roasting the leek. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Trim the green stalks from the leeks, leaving the white sections. Be sure to thoroughly wash the leeks, as dirt can get into the areas where green meets white. Place the leeks on a baking sheet and bake for 35-45 minutes until the outsides are charred. Remove and let them cool.
- For the mushroom filling: Chop the mushrooms into small (around 1 inch) slices. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over a medium-low flame. Add the garlic and sauté, while stirring, until fragrant. Add the mushrooms and salt and pepper to taste. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms are tender. Add the spinach and cook until the leaves are wilted. Remove from the heat.
- For the béchamel: Slit the leeks down the center lengthwise and use a spoon to scoop out the soft interior. Discard the chard outer layer. Chop the leek interior into small pieces.
- In a mall saucepan, melt 2 tbsp of vegan butter over a medium flame. Add the flour and, using a wooden spoon, combine it into a paste. Cook for a few minutes, continuously stirring, until the flour is browned. Start adding the oat milk a little bit at a time, stirring to combine in between each addition so no lumps form. When the oat milk is all incorporated, add the white wine and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer and cook for 6-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it’s thickened into a sauce. Add the sage and cook for another minute, then remove from the heat and add the nutritional yeast and leek. Stir to combine. Combine the leek béchamel with the mushroom mixture and place in the refrigerator to cool for half an hour.
- When you’re ready to assemble, preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the fillo from the box and carefully unroll it. It’s okay if you get a few breaks in the sheets, as they will be stuck together with vegan butter. Using a large knife or pizza cutter, slice through the sheets, cutting them into thirds longwise. The slices will be roughly 18” long and 4.33 inches wide. Set the fillo to the side of your workspace and cover them with a damp towel so they do not dry out while you work.
- Lay down on a sheet of fillo and brush the surface with melted vegan butter. Place another sheet on top of this one, creating two layers. Brush the second layer with butter too. Scoop about 1/4 cup of filling onto the bottom end of the strip. Fold the corner of the fillo over the filling, creating a triangular corner. Flip the triangle upwards and continue folding it, keeping it triangular (like folding a flag) until you have folded the whole strip around the filling. Place the triangle on a baking sheet and brush it with vegan butter. Continue until you have used up all the filling and sheets.
- Bake the triangles for 25-30 minutes until they’re golden brown. Remove from the pan and let them cool for at least twenty minutes before serving. You can also store them in the refrigerator after they’ve cool entirely and reheat them by baking them at 350°F for 15 minutes.
