Vegetable Cobbler with Crusty Scone Topping

Serves 8

This is hardly a pie - it's really a stew with a crusty scone topping. I usually make it with meat, but I've tinkered with the recipe to make a vegetable version. Either way it fills you up right down to your boots with warming inexpensive food. Cobblers can be sweet as well as savoury and the topping is said to resemble a cobbled street. They were popular in lean times when food rationing was part of life because scone dough and similar toppings, call for much less butter or fat than pastry.

Vegetarian Cobbler with Crusty Topping Photo: Julie Biuso

Ingredients

Stew

• 2 medium leeks
• 6 stalks celery
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into thick rounds
• 2 parsnips, peeled and cut into thick rounds
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp standard flour
• 1½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 litre light unsalted stock
• 1 Tbsp tomato concentrate
• Bunch of parsley
• 3 fresh bay leaves
• Small bunch fresh thyme
• 1 small swede, peeled and cut into chunks
• 500g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 300g pumpkin, peeled and cut into chunks
• 300g kumara (sweet potatoes), peeled and cut into chunks
• 400g can butterbeans, drained
• 2 cups frozen baby peas

Scone topping

• 2 cups self-raising flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 50g butter, softened
• 1 Tbsp chopped parsley
• 1 Tbsp chopped marjoram (or a few pinches dried oregano)
• 1 Tbsp snipped chives
• 200g grated vintage or tasty cheddar
• 200ml whole milk
• Smoked paprika, for sieving

Method

1 Trim leeks, remove outer leaf on each, wash, shake, then cut into thick rounds. Trim celery stalks and wash well. Cut into short lengths. Put leeks, celery, carrots and parsnips in a large flameproof casserole with the olive oil. Cover with a lid and cook gently for 25-30 minutes, until tender.

2 Stir in flour, salt and smoked paprika and cook through for 1 minute, then stir in stock and tomato concentrate. Remove enough parsley leaves to provide 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley for the scone topping. Bundle up the rest with the bay leaves and thyme and tie with string. Add to casserole with swede, potatoes, pumpkin, kumara and canned beans. Put frozen peas in a sieve and rinse under hot water until no longer icy. Add to casserole. Bring to the boil, then lower heat and cook gently, covered with a lid, for 45-60 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Turn off the heat, remove lid and let casserole imbue while making the sone topping.

3 Preheat oven to 210°C. Once oven is up to speed, start on the cobbler topping. Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Cut butter into dice and add to flour, then cut in with two knives or a pastry cutter until butter is hardly visible.  Add parsley, marjoram and chives and half the cheese. Quickly mix to a dough with the milk, then finish by gently kneading with one hand. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently roll to approximately 1cm thick. Cut out rounds with a 5cm cutter (you will need to re-roll scraps to make enough cobbles).

4 Place scone rounds on top of vegetables in casserole, slightly overlapping. Scatter over remaining cheese and dust with paprika. Cook for 15-20 minutes, until the cobbler topping is golden and crusty. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Recipe notes

Choose a pumpkin with a dense flesh such as crown pumpkin, or grey-skinned pumpkin.
Cut the vegetables into chunks about the size of half a walnut in the shell - any smaller and they tend to break up.
You could also add mushroom (100g). Choose brown button mushrooms with closed caps. Wipe with damp paper towels and add along with swede.
Be sure to use unflavoured frozen peas (avoid 'mint' flavoured or 'minted' baby peas).
Chop and change vegetables as you see fit - more or less of pumpkin, kumara, potato, won't make much difference. Add green beans if you have them, but avoid broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, cavolo nero and other vegetables that get a bit 'whiffy' with long cooking. If you want to include these vegetables, or have a few leftovers, or a bunch of spinach, add them at the end of cooking. They will heat through in the oven as the cobbler topping cooks.