Vegetarian mains
Root vegetable and borlotti cobbler
A cobbler can be a sweet or savoury dish, with a pastry or dumpling baked topping. Our winter version is packed with seasonal roots and nutty borlotti beans, and uses a cheese and herb cobbler dough. Spring greens add a flash of colour for the side dish. Root veg tends to vary in size so we've listed the chopped weight.
Cook's notes
If you've not got the exact veg, celeriac, sweet potatoes, swede or squash will all work well. The greens can be swapped for cabbage, swiss chard or spinach.
Ingredients
- 1 onion
- oil for frying
- 10g rosemary
- 200g parsnip, about 1 parsnip
- 200g carrot, about 1 carrot
- 250g potato, 1 large or 2 small potatoes
- 125g cherry tomatoes
- ½ tin borlotti beans
- 100ml white wine
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 tbsp sweet white miso
- 75g butter
- 100g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp herbes de Provence
- 25g Cheddar cheese
- salt and pepper
- 150g winter or spring greens
Method
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Step 1
Preheat your oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Peel and finely dice the onion. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a flame and ovenproof casserole (or use a large frying pan then transfer to a baking dish later). Start gently frying the onion, stirring often and adding a splash of water if it looks like catching, while you continue.
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Step 2
Finely chop the rosemary leaves. Add them to the onion. Peel and chop the parsnip, carrot and potato into 2-3cm chunky pieces. Stir them into the onion. Keep it all cooking while you halve the tomatoes and drain the borlotti beans.
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Step 3
Stir the wine into the veg, increase the heat and let it bubble and reduce for 2 mins. Stir in the tomatoes, dried oregano, borlotti, tomato purée and miso. Add 300ml of water, season, and gently simmer for 10 mins, while you make the cobbler topping.
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Step 4
Chop the butter into small pieces. Place in a bowl. Add the flour. Rub together with your fingertips until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Mix the herbes de Provences and Cheddar into the bowl. Season with salt. Stir in approx. 2 tbsp of cold water, enough to bring the mix together into a soft (cobbler) dough. Divide into 6 roughly even balls, flattening them slightly with your hands.
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Step 5
At this point, if you need to, transfer the veg mixture to a baking dish. Place the dough balls on top of the veg. Bake for 25 mins, until the dough is starting to lightly colour.
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Step 6
Put a medium saucepan of water on to boil. Strip the spring or winter green leaves off their stalks. Layer up the leaves, roll them into a fat cigar shape, then thinly shred.
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Step 7
When the bake is 5 mins from being ready, boil the greens for 2-3 mins, until wilted. Drain, season and serve with the cobbler.