This rich and hearty beef cobbler is really just a slow-cooked beef stew with homemade cheddar cheese scones baked on top. The perfect healthy comfort food for any night of the week. This easy beef recipe uses a cheap (and tough) cut of beef that turns melt in your mouth tender as it's slow-cooked with vegetables in a red wine beef sauce.
Beef Cobbler
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Ingredients needed
*Pantry ingredient required- olive or vegetable oil, sea salt, pepper
Lean diced beef- this is essentially just stewing beef. Look for anything labelled as chuck, stewing or diced. These will be cheap and tough cuts that are perfect for slow cooking.
Onion, carrots, celery and garlic- the perfect flavour compliments to beef and red wine. You could also add in mushrooms and leeks if you love them.
Tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce and English mustard- these are the perfect flavour boosters to beef.
Red wine & beef stock- The liquid for stewing the beef.
Step by step how to make tender beef stew
Step 1 & 2- Heat the oil in a casserole dish and fry the meat in batches until browned all over. Remove from the pan and set to one side. You'll have lots of brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. That is exactly what you want. We scrape all that up and it brings so much flavour.
In the same pan fry the onion, carrots, and celery until just coloured.
Step 3 & 4- Add the beef back to the pan and stir in the tomato purée and English mustard and cook for another two minutes. Stir the 2 tablespoons of plain flour into the pan coating all the vegetables.
Pour in the red wine and beef stock and bring it all up to a boil. Cover with a lid and turn to heat down to low and continue to cook covered for about 1 hour 30 minutes. The beef needs a long slow simmer to turn it tender.
Making the cheddar scones
Weigh the flour, baking powder, and cheese into a medium-size mixing bowl. Add in the cold cubed butter and use a fork to cut the butter into the flour mixture.
Once the mix resembles breadcrumbs, add in the chopped parsley and slowly pour in the milk. Try not to overwork the mixture by mixing it too much as this will toughen the end result.
Tip the mixture onto a lightly floured surface and bring together to form a soft dough. Form the dough into a rough circle keeping it quite thick, about 2.5cm/1in. Cut out seven scone-sized circles. Brush the tops of the scones with some milk.
Place the scones on top of the stew. Place the stew in the oven and bake, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes until the scones are golden brown.
Beef cobbler top tips
- 1- you can use a dark ale or beer in the stew instead of the red wine
- 2- add-in leeks and mushrooms to make this a vegetable-heavy stew
- 3- use any leftover strong cheese besides cheddar. Something like Gruyere is perfect too.
- 4- use thyme leaves in the scones instead of the parsley
Storing cobbler
Cool any leftover cobbler completely and divide into airtight lidded containers. Keep in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. To reheat the cobbler, the oven really is the best method. Place in an oven-safe dish and heat covered until the stew and scones are hot all the way through. Heating the cobbler in the microwave will be faster, but it will make the scones go soggy.
More comfort food dinner recipes
Tools used to make this Beef Cobbler
Beef Cobbler With Cheddar Scones Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) olive oil or vegetable oil
- 400 g (1 ⅔ cups) lean diced beef, any kind of stewing beef
- 1 (1) yellow onion, chopped
- 3 cloves (3 cloves) garlic, minced
- 4 (4) carrots peeled and chopped
- 5 (5) sticks celery, chopped
- 2 tablespoons (2 tablespoons) plain flour
- 2 tablespoons (2 tablespoons) tomato puree
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) English mustard
- 1 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) Worcestershire sauce
- 300 ml (1 ⅕ cups) red wine
- 600 ml (2 ⅖ cups) beef stock made from a stock cube
- For the scones
- 200 g (1 ½ cups) plain flour
- 1 ½ tablespoons (1 ½ tablespoons) baking powder
- 80 g (2 ⅚ oz) strong cheddar, grated
- 70 g (2 ½ oz) cold butter, cubed
- 2 tablespoons (2 tablespoons) milk
- ½ (½) bunch parsley, chopped
Instructions
- To make the stew, preheat the oven to 180C. and season the beef with salt and pepper.
- Heat the oil in a casserole dish and fry the meat in batches until browned all over. Remove from the pan and set to one side.
- In the same pan fry the onion, carrots, and celery until just coloured. Stir in the tomato purée and English mustard and cook for another two minutes. Stir the 2 tablespoons of plain flour into the pan coating all the vegetables.
- Pour the wine into the pan and heat through. Using a wooden spoon, scrape any charred meat and vegetables from the bottom of the pan. Add the stock, and return the beef to the pan.
- Cover with a lid and cook on the hob over a very low heat for 1½ hours.
- Meanwhile, make the cobbler topping. Mix the flour, baking powder and cheddar in a bowl. Using a knife cut the cold butter into the flour mixture until it resembles bread crumbs. Add in the chopped parsley and slowly add the milk and bring the mixture together. You may not need all of the milk. Try not to overwork the mixture by mixing it too much as this will toughen the end result.
- Tip the mixture onto a floured surface and bring together to form a soft dough. Form the dough into a rough circle keeping it quite thick, about 2.5cm/1in. Cut out seven scone-sized circles. Brush the tops of the scones with some milk.
- Place the scones on top of the stew. Place the stew in the oven and bake, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes until the scones are golden brown.
Nutrition
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