We’re back with another cookbook of the month! Yay! Briefly, some housekeeping, cookbook of the month will now only consist of 2 recipes from each book due to my internal demand to bring you guys new content! This month we have an amazing book called Vegetarian Ventures by Shelly Westerhausen. Shelly is the author of the blog Vegetarian Heartland and her food is truly intimidatingly gorgeous. Seriously, I looked at this book for weeks before I finally decide to plunge into a recipe. That being said, within 30 seconds of picking the book up, I knew this Vegetable Cobbler HAD to be the first one I tried.
Shelly’s book is a beautiful celebration of vegetable centric cooking. It’s also a celebration of the Midwest and seasonal living as it is organized not only by season, but also by the activity you may do in that season. It’s truly a gorgeous book concept and I cannot recommend it enough.
This specific recipe can be found under Spring, and under the “Farmer’s Market Day” section. Looking at it you can see why, this recipe utilizes a ton of different vegetables you might find at the farmer’s market in the Spring or Summer time. What struck me about this, is that this recipe really is customizable by season or by what’s available in your specific area. For example, this recipe originally has broccoli in it, but I found asparagus at the store instead, and it was a great substitute.
Now, aside from the gorgeous, colorful and delicious vegetables in this recipe, the true kicker here is that they are topped basically with homemade Red Lobster biscuits (minus the Old Bay seasoning) and let me tell you they are fire! These biscuits so perfectly melt into the cobbler, lapping up the sauce and bringing a savory, cheesy flavor to the whole dish. It takes the dish from just vegetables to am impressive meal of fantastic comfort food.
I also have to add, this recipe heats up well too! Andrew and I took it for work two days in a row and it was wonderful. Just make sure to break up the biscuits before you put it in the microwave.
If you like this recipe please comment and/or share on social media. Also go buy Vegetarian Ventures and if you live in the Midwest like me, let it inspire you to get outside, go camping, have a picnic and go to the Farmer’s Market.
Until Next Time,
Jackie
Shelly’s Savory Vegetable Cobbler with Herb Drop Biscuits
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Vegetarian, Vegan, Midwest
Description
An amazing plant based recipe slightly modified from the cookbook Vegetarian Heartland, bright seasonal veggies baked and covered with cheesy herb biscuits.
Ingredients
Scale
- Cobbler
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 white onion, diced
- 1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 2 medium zucchini, diced
- 1 bunch asparagus, cut in thirds
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 8 oz cherry tomatoes, left whole or cut in half
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup vegetable stock or water
- Biscuits
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1/2 cup mixed fresh herbs (I used chives, basil, dill and parsley)
- 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
- 8 tbsp chilled butter (her recipe called for unsalted, but I used salted and it was delicious)
- 1/2 cup almond milk (substitute for buttermilk if you wish)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan. Add in the onions and bell pepper and cook until the onions become fragrant and translucent. Add in the zucchini, asparagus and garlic and cook for 8 minutes until the asparagus and zucchini start to soften. You may need to cover it for a few minutes to steam the veggies. Add in the cherry tomatoes and stir briefly to combine.
- Next, add in the flour and coat all the veggies in it. It will start to thicken, cook for about one minute then add the vegetable stock. It should then form a thick sauce around the vegetables.
- Transfer the vegetables to a deep baking dish, I used a 9×13. Set this aside while you make your biscuits.
- To make the biscuits, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, salt , pepper, herbs and cheddar cheese in a large bowl. Next, use your hands (or a pastry cutter if you have one) to work the butter into the flour mixture. You will have to pick up the butter and break it up and massage it into the flour. The mixture will start to look almost like sand. Then add in the milk and mix until it becomes a single ball of dough. You can do this in a food processor or a mixer if you have one.
- Scoop out the dough, 2 tablespoons at a time, and drop it onto the cobbler in three rows, you should have about 9 biscuits.
- Bake the cobbler for 25 minutes, or until the top is browned. You can check if the biscuits are done by sticking them with a toothpick and seeing if it comes out clean. Mine took around 30 minutes but I have a bad oven so check it at 25. Scoop into bowls and enjoy!
Notes
*For Vegan used vegan cheddar cheese and vegan butter.
