Vegan Potato Bake with Spinach, Plant-Based Fish Fingers and "Egg"

Today we're throwing the ever-popular combination of potatoes, spinach and vegan fish sticks into a casserole dish, pour a creamy dill-mustard-cream sauce over them and cover the whole thing with vegan cheese. We also welcome tofu eggs as special guests on top of the dish. Sounds adventurous, but actually tastes like pure childhood to us.

Of course, we already have a recipe for the "classic version" on the blog where you'll find mashed potatoes and a vegan fried egg on the plate. So why a casserole now? Quite simply, because it's fun!

What you should prepare ahead
On the one hand, this casserole is very easy to make, as the frozen spinach and vegan fish sticks are simply thrown into the baking dish as they are. Theoretically, you could also add raw, thinly sliced potatoes to the casserole, but I prefer larger potato chunks that you need to pre-cook for a few minutes. The sauce should also be prepared briefly in a separate pot – alternatively, it would be possible to pour plain vegan cream over everything. However, I didn't think it added enough flavor or the sauce I wanted for this casserole and it also wasn't the best consistency.

Ideas for the vegan eggs
The vegan eggs on the casserole are optional, so you could also leave them out. I experimented with them a lot during the test cooking process. One option was to cut natural tofu into chunks and season them with kala namak, but I found this a little too boring. Option two was the vegan "cut-out" eggs from our layered salad, but they didn't provide sufficient flavor for me in the casserole either. The vegan fried eggs from our "classic recipe" could also be prepared separately from the casserole and only be added on top after baking, but that was too complicated for me. So, in my opinion, the best option was to pre-bake the casserole and, in the meantime, puree a thick mixture based on natural tofu and color a small part of it with turmeric. This mixture is then added to small molds on the casserole and baked for a few minutes. In the end, you can, of course, decide for yourself whether and in which form you want to add the vegan egg.

Can you reheat spinach if you have leftovers?
This question has kept us busy in the office, so you may feel the same way. In a fact check, the MDR writes that it is safe as long as the spinach has been cooled down quickly after cooking and is then stored in the fridge for no longer than two days (source). Spinach experts such as Iglo even say it should be reheated the next day at the latest to at least 70 degrees. It should not be reheated a second time (source).

So, if you still have a portion of the casserole left, don't put the casserole dish in the oven until the next day, but wrap the leftovers in an airtight container and add it to the fridge to reheat and eat the next day.