Beef and Bean Cobbler

I love making cobbler as it's an all in one dish and so easy to prepare.

There might be lots of chopping, but once that is done,

it all comes together so quickly.

The name comes from the topping,

which looks like a cobbled street when cooked.

As this is a winter warmer

and herbs are not as easily obtainable in the winter months,

I make a sneaky substitution for herbs by using pesto.

Even though pesto also contains nuts and cheese,

it just adds extra flavour to the dish.

The pesto I use for this dish is a basil and pinenut green pesto,

but you could use a coriander pesto or my red pepper pesto previously shared.

The slow cooking is so necessary for this dish as it breaks the vegetables down to the most amazing sauce.

Give it a try.

Ingredients:
For the Stew:
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
1/2 a leek, sliced. (use the middle of the leek with white and green for great flavour)
1 large parsnip, cut in small cubes.
1 large carrot, cut into cubes or thin slices
2 inches root ginger, grated
30ml green basil pesto 500ml stewing beef, cut into 1 inch cubes

50ml flour
10ml steak and chop seasoning
5ml paprika
2 large potatoes, cut into 8ths
1 tin cannellini beans
500ml beef stock
30ml soy sauce

For the Cobbler:
1 cup flour
10ml baking powder
30g butter
1 egg
50g Lancashire cheese, crumbled
50-60 ml milk
pinch of salt

Method:
Preheat the oven to 150C

.

In a large frying pan over a low heat, sweat the onions, garlic, celery and leek for about 15 minutes until the vegetables are translucent, but not coloured. Add the parsnips, carrots, ginger and pest and stew gently for another five minutes.

.

Put the flour, seasoning and paprika into a plastic bag, shake up to mix and add the beef cubes. Shake up to coat the beef cubes well. In a large ovenproof saucepan, brown the beef over a medium to high heat until all the meat is sealed. Add the sweated vegetables, potatoes, drained beans, stock and soy sauce and mix well. Cover and bring to the boil.

.

Transfer to the oven with a lid on the pan and cook for 2-3 hours until the meat is tender and the vegetable mixture is well broken down to a rich gravy. If it has become a bit dry, you can add a little water at this stage to reconstitute the gravy.

.

Remove from the oven and prepare the topping. Turn the oven up to 180C.

.

When the meat is ready, make the topping. Put the flour, baking powder, butter, egg, cheese and salt in a blender and pulse to a dough, adding enough milk to make the dough pliable, not too stiff or too sticky. Roll the dough out to about 1/2 inch thickness and cut out rounds with a scone cutter. Place these rounds on the top of the stew in the saucepan, one in the middle and the others around the edge, until the meat is covered. There may be gaps between the rounds - that's alright as the dough will swell on cooking. Return to the oven and cook for another 20-30 minutes until the topping is puffed up and browned on top.