Vegetable Cobbler (with cheesy scone topping)
Photographing this vegetable cobbler was absolute torture – I was desperate to dig in! It smelled so amazing, with heaps of different vegetables in a creamy sauce, topped with fluffy, cheesy scones… I know I cook a lot of comfort food, but you really can’t get much more comfort food-y than this.
You might also like: Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie; Creamy Vegetable Bake; Mushroom and Chestnut Pie.
🥦 Savoury Cobbler
A cobbler is usually a dessert, but I’m not usually much of a dessert person (unless it’s chocolate. I am definitely a chocolate person). A savoury cobbler is more my thing. The sweet filling is replaced with loads of veggies (bringing plenty of different flavours, textures and colours to the dish), all smothered in a creamy sauce. And the sweet scone topping instead becomes flaky, cheesy scones – crispy on the outside, and soft and flaky in the middle.
👵🏻 My Granny’s Recipe Book
I know it’s a bit of a cliché for a food blogger to talk about how a recipe came from their grandmother… but seriously. This recipe was inspired by one I found in my late Granny’s old handwritten recipe book – from back when there were no computers, and recipes had to be copied out of magazines and cookbook by hand, or given to friends on random scraps of paper… how beautiful is this?! It’s perfectly imperfect – spelling mistakes, scribbles, pages torn out – there’s even a recipe scribbled on the back of a letter from the DVLA! And just look at the handwriting!
There’s a whole section in the book for vegetarian recipes (my lovely Granny was obviously ahead of her time), so maybe I’ll share some more of her recipes another time. But first, this delicious vegetable cobbler!
I have simplified the original recipe a little, in order to make it work better for my busy life (ain’t nobody got time for two different kinds of flour), but the most important elements – the luxurious creamy sauce, the fluffy cheese scones, the colourful veggies – are all still there.
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🥗 Ingredients and Substitutions
Here’s what you’ll need to make this vegetable cobbler recipe. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.
- vegetables – obviously the vegetables are the most important part of this recipe! Choose a variety of colours and textures. I used broccoli, peppers, frozen green beans, and frozen corn (I love frozen vegetables for convenience, and to reduce waste). You can use different veg if you prefer – see below for some more ideas.
- milk
- grated cheese – I’m not generally against buying pre-grated cheese, but for this recipe it’s best to use a nice mature cheddar, and grate it fresh from the block.
- egg
- flour – just plain flour / all-purpose
- baking powder (to make the scones super fluffy)
- butter
- garlic granules – for convenience
- dried herbs – I used regular mixed herbs
If you fancy using different vegetables in your veggie cobbler, there are lots of things that would work well:
- leek
- onion (red or white)
- asparagus
- frozen peas
- mushrooms
- courgette (zucchini)
- cabbage
- sweet potato
To be honest, almost any vegetable will work well – this recipe is a great way to clear out the fridge!
Becca’s Top Tip
If you’d like to up the protein content of this vegetable cobbler even more, you could also add a can of chickpeas, lentils, or your favourite kind of beans.
🖨️ Printable Instructions
Vegetable Cobbler (with cheesy scone topping)
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Print Pin Comment(if you suffer from allergies, please double check all ingredients before eating)
Ingredients
For the creamy vegetable mixture:
- 1 Tablespoon oil
- 1 head broccoli
- 2 bell peppers (I used orange and red)
- 100 g (~ 3 1/2 oz) green beans (I used frozen)
- 130 g (~ 1 cup) sweetcorn (I used frozen)
- 30 g (~ 2 Tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 2 Tablespoons plain flour (all-purpose)
- 450 ml (~ 1 3/4 cups) milk
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic granules
- 1 teaspoon dried herbs (I used mixed herbs)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
For the scone topping:
- 165 g (~ 1 cup) plain flour (all-purpose)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 70 ml (~ 1/4 cup) milk
- 100 g mature cheddar cheese, grated (~ 1 1/4 cups when grated)
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- Dried parsley, to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- First, wash any fresh vegetables, and cut into bitesized pieces. Heat a dash of oil in a large frying pan, and add the vegetables. Cook over a medium heat, stirring regularly, for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are fairly soft (the broccoli should still have a bit of bite to it). If you find that the vegetables are starting to brown, turn the pan down a little.
- While the vegetables are softening, prepare the creamy sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium-low heat, and add a couple of Tablespoons of flour. Combine to make a paste (called a roux), and cook for it a couple of minutes, stirring regularly, just to cook the flour.
- Add about a quarter of the milk at a time, each time stirring the mixture until it comes together into a smooth, cohesive paste before adding more milk. If you’d like more detailed instructions, including photos showing the sauce at each stage, you can check out my simple white sauce recipe.
- When you’ve used all of the milk and you have a smooth white sauce, add the garlic granules and dried herbs, and season with salt and pepper. Mix well to combine.
- Add the white sauce to the cooked vegetables, and mix well. Set aside.
- To make the cheesy scones, add the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper to a large bowl. Mix with a fork.
- Add the lightly beaten egg, milk, grated cheese, and olive oil, and use the fork to bring the mixture together. You should end up with a slightly sticky dough – you can add another splash of milk if the mixture seems too dry.
- Transfer the creamy vegetables to a baking dish (mine measured approx. 8 x 8 inches), and scoop rough dollops of the scone mixture on top. I made 4 rough scones in total.
- Bake at 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F) for around 25 minutes, or until the scones are firm, and golden brown and crispy on top. As soon as the cobbler comes out of the oven, I like to add a sliver of butter to the top of each scone – it melts right onto them, and really brings them to life. I also like to add some dried parsley for colour.
- Serve the cobbler straight from the oven.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
💭 Recipe FAQs
If you need to, I would recommend constructing the recipe fully, but waiting to bake it until just before serving. Store it in sealed container in the fridge until you are ready to bake. It may take a little longer to bake if the mixture is cold from the fridge.
Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave – although bear in mind that the cheesy scones taste best fresh from the oven.
This veggie cobbler is a complete meal, and doesn’t really need any side dishes. However, if you would like some variety, a few good side dishes could be a green salad, or some crispy potatoes.
awww I’m so jealous– My granny was an amazing cook as well, but didn’t write down A THING! To this day, I can’t figure out how she made her biscuits. Love this!
That’s such a shame! I bet there were tons more recipes that my Granny didn’t write down too.
Love that you found your grandmother’s hand written cookbook with all those recipes! So much more special to scroll through than someones Pinterest recipe account right? I looove adding bay leaves when I’m cooking – adds so much flavor! This sounds delicious Pinning!
I’m not going to be giving up Pinterest any time soon haha, but it’s definitely more special to look through recipes that someone’s taken the time to write out by hand :)
I do like the idea of infusing the milk with peppercorn/bay leaf. It does make all the difference to the taste.
It really does, I was amazed at how much difference it made!
What a fab recipe book. My granny was a great cook too, but sadly never wrote any of her recipes down. How wonderful for you that she did. I love a good cobbler but haven’t made one in years. Could I perhaps just have a serving of yours?
Haha we ate the whole thing within about five minutes of it coming out of the oven ;)
That looks wonderful Becca and the cobbler topping looks so good. The perfect comfort dish. ps I make my roux that way too
Oh this looks so delicious! It’s so lovely that you found your gran’s cook book. I wish I could have my gran’s recipes as she made some of the best food I’ve ever tasted!
This dish looks stunning. I’m sure your granny would be proud :)
Thanks Nadia :) How come Grannies are always the best cooks?!
Love that you have your granny’s old cook book I wish I had mine and there were so many recipes like her Christmas Cake and Pud which never got passed on as her health had deteriorated too much by the time I thought to ask! My mum always put pepper corns and bay leaves in her white sauce which was always the base of a white cabbage side dish so I know how good this must taste – fabulous:-)
That’s a shame :( This sauce would be great on anything really – I think it would be good on cauliflower too!
This just looks like it tastes like fall and feels like a warm hug. If that made sense. Anyway, this looks amazing. So creamy and delicious- and those biscuits on top! Perfection!
Haha it really does feel like a warm hug – the epitome of comfort food :)
I’ve always infused milk before making bread sauce, but never thought to do it before making a white one! What a good idea.
I’ve never made my own bread sauce! Must try that this Christmas.
This looks amazing! I have to try it tonight. I never thought of infusing the sauce base with spices. What a great idea.
I found some handwritten recipes from my mom and auntie and framed them for my kitchen. I feel like they’re there cooking with me.
That’s a brilliant idea! Bet they look great, and they mean a lot too :)