If you want a rich, hearty Autumn meal full of vegetables and flavour, this is it. It just happens to be vegetarian or vegan, but it will appeal to carnivores too. This recipe serves three but is easily scaled up. Method is given for an Instant Pot or conventional pan.
For the casserole base:
- half an onion, chopped
- 1 parsnip, chopped
- 1 leek, sliced
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 celery stick, chopped
- half a small butternut squash, cubed
- Dash of vegetable oil
Sweat your vegetables in a pan until soft and maybe just a bit coloured. For the Instant Pot or conventional pot the next bit is the same except timings. Add to your pot of choice:
- Your part cooked vegetables
- Handful of brown or green lentils
- 450ml vegetable stock
- 1tsp Marmite
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- pinch of dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- a good grind of black pepper
For an Instant Pot, cook 4 minutes. For a conventional stove top pan, cover with a lid and cook 40 minutes, adding water if it is drying out. At the end of cooking, all will be nice and soft. Now for the key sneaky move: take a stick blender and zap a small section of the mix. Stir it all about to make the liquid a bit gloopy instead of watery. Meanwhile, make your cobbler topping.
- 150g plain flour
- 10g baking powder
- 0.5 tsp mustard powder
- pinch ground white pepper
- 35g grated cheese (for vegan, Pilgrims Choice cheddar is excellent)
- 50g butter, cubed (or vegan baking block)
Whizz the lot in a food processor to make fine crumbs. Add
- about 100ml milk (or soya milk) plus a bit (see below)
Mix gently to make a stiff dough. Add more milk if needed. Press out on a floured surface to about 2cm thick. Stamp into 40cm or 50cm rounds, re-rolling trimmings until you have made about 6 or 7 disks. Put the veg mixture into an oven proof dish of the right size, and lay your cobblers on the top of the veg. Brush them with a bit of milk. Now bake in a 180C fan oven for 30 minutes. Serve with mash and a green veg if you like. The cobbler will absorb liquid so it may need a bit of gravy if it looks dry. This is very filling and extremely tasty. No bland vegan dishes allowed in this house!