We ate dinner unusually early tonight. As if my husband doesn't work enough hours each week, he has to go back in for a couple hours this evening. Well I couldn't send him back to work on an empty stomach. I've been planning on making this for a week or so now and finally decided to try it out tonight. As I was eating dinner, I was trying to think how I would describe this dish. With each bite all I kept thinking was "sweet, savory, and southern". Very original, right? But really if you break it down, it is. The dish itself reminds me of a rustic, country pot pie. Then there's the combination of the roughly chopped savory vegetables and broth with the slightly sweet cornbread topping. Each component is very different, but the flavors somehow meld together so well. Overall, it was surprisingly delicious. We had this as a main dish for dinner tonight since we're both still under the weather and not eating much, but it would also be a great side dish as well. In fact, a dish worthy of a spot alongside your Thanksgiving turkey or on your Sunday dinner table. I would suggest doubling the recipe though if making this for a large group.

Autumn Vegetable Cobbler

Ingredients

1 small onion, sliced
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 small red potatoes, cubed
2 carrots, chopped
1/4 cup water
2 medium leeks, halved lengthwise and cut into slices
2 cups chopped fresh spinach*
1 cup vegetable broth (I used chicken broth since that's what I had on hand)
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley (I didn't have fresh so used 1 Tbsp dried parsley)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cornbread Topping -(I used a box of corn muffin mix but you can click on the link to view the original cornbread topping recipe.)

Preparation

Sauté sliced onion in hot oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until tender. Add potato, carrot, and 1/4 cup water; cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. Add leeks and spinach, and cook 3 minutes or until spinach wilts.

Whisk together vegetable broth and flour until smooth. Stir broth mixture, minced parsley, soy sauce, and salt into spinach mixture. Bring to a boil; cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring often, 5 minutes or until thickened.

Spoon vegetable mixture into a lightly greased 8-inch baking dish. Drop Cornbread Topping by heaping tablespoonfuls onto hot vegetable mixture.

Bake at 400° for 30 minutes or until golden. (I would suggest checking this around 20 min. Mine turned out very dark brown at 20 min.)

*Chopped kale, collard greens, or turnip greens may be substituted.

*When preparing the leeks, slice and separate them and then float them in a bowl of water. If there is any dirt in between the layers, it will fall to the bottom of the bowl.

Yield

Makes 4 servings

Southern Living, OCTOBER 2001

Source:
Cooking Light