Mushroom and cheese scone cobbler

The finished result, fresh from the oven
This is a very hearty, stick-to-your-ribs autumnal dish, perfect if you want to give your vegetarian friends a good warming feast, but want to accommodate carnivores at the same meal: it feels like a meat dish, even though it isn't. The recipe is from The Guardian, and its drawback is that it involves a lot of fussy transferring from pan to pan, which is unfortunate. It serves six people a little frugally.

Ingredients
  • 3 tablespoonfuls of olive or rapeseed oil
  • 1 onion
  • 1 medium carrot
  • 1 celery stalk
  • 1 large knob of butter
  • 750g of mushrooms (I used a combination of common mushrooms, including button ones)
  • 1 large clove of garlic
  • 1 tablespoonful of thyme leaves (I used fresh from my new plant)
  • 150ml of red wine
  • 250ml of vegetable stock
  • Salt to taste
  • Pepper to taste
  • Sour cream, to serve

    (for the scone topping:)
  • 175g plain flour
  • 2¼ teaspoonfuls of baking powder
  • ½ a teaspoonful of salt
  • 75g of chilled butter
  • 1 teaspoonful of English mustard
  • 75g of mature cheddar
  • 1 large egg
  • 125ml of milk
     
Method
  1. Preheat the oven to 190°C.
  2. Chop the onion, carrot and celery finely.
  3. Heat 1 tablespoonful of oil in a large pan and add the onion, carrot and celery. Cook over a low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  4. Meanwhile, chop the mushrooms into thick slices, but leave some little button mushrooms whole. Also, crush the garlic and chop the thyme leaves.
  5. Take another large frying pan and heat 1 tablespoonful of oil along with the knob of butter.
  6. Cook the mushrooms in this second pan in batches, stirring often. When I did this, the first batch soaked up all the butter and oil, which meant that the ensuing batches were pretty much dry-fried. But it all worked out in the end. I put the cooked batches onto a plate.
  7. Add the garlic and thyme to the last batch and fry briefly (just until you can smell the garlic cooking, but not burning). I guess this is where you should use the third tablespoonful of oil, to stop the garlic burning on the hot pan.
  8. Add the all the mushrooms (including the garlicky ones) to the other pan of vegetables.
  9. Pour the wine into the pan that the mushrooms were cooked in. Stir, and let it bubble for a few minutes. Then pour it into the other pan of mushrooms and vegetables.
  10. Pour the stock into the pan of mushrooms and vegetables. Bring to a simmer, and leave to cook while you do the scone topping.
  11. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.
  12. Chop the butter into little cubes and add to the bowl.
  13. Rub the butter into the flour mixture with your fingers, until you have little breadcrumbs.
  14. Grate the cheese and stir it into the crumbs along with the mustard.
  15. In another bowl, beat the egg and milk together with a fork. Then stir this into the flour mix to create a soft, sticky dough.
  16. Season the mushroom stew and pour it into a wide oven dish.
  17. Drop large spoonfuls of the scone mixture on top of the stew.
  18. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until the scones are well risen and golden.
  19. Serve with the sour cream.