In my little universe, for the last couple of days a harsh wind fiddled with great joy, leaving the trees almost bare. It finally calmed down yesterday, and the moment I looked outside a window, I knew I will have to take care of a large amount of fallen leaves. And leaves were all kind of weary, faded out of their color – just like the last few November days. It’s not that I don’t like November, but frequently its mornings just don’t have strength to develop fully, and I got the feel that night is lurking from each darker corner, sipping the intensity out of the nature’s bright colors.
Fortunately, there is a solution for that situation. And it’s quite simple – we have to bring some color in our lives, and in my case it is mostly through some colorful, tasty dishes. So, as I was raking pile after pile of leaves, I remembered one great cobbler recipe. I don’t make it often, but it’s a special dish in my cookbook, because my friend Steve brought it to me one day. Well, more precisely, he came to me one day with a piece of wrinkled paper, torn out from some old magazine and said: I thought we could make this lentil cobbler, I like all the ingredients in it – all wrapped around in a smile.
So we made it few times, changing something each time, adding spices, leaving out the cheese, and came up with our own version of vegan lentil cobbler, which is simple to make, tasty and – more important – it will bring color into your autumn days.
Lentil Celery Cobbler Recipe
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 300 grams / 10.5 ounces brown lentils
- 2 larger celery roots
- 5 tablespoons vegan sour cream
- 600 grams / 21 ounces canned tomatoes
- handful of parsley leaves
- salt (approx. 1 ½ to 3 tablespoons, depending on tomato sauce saltines)
- 1 ½ tablespoons black pepper
- juice of ½ lemon
- fresh mint leaves (or one mint tea bag)
- * little bit of grated lemon zest, if the lemon is organic
- large skillet
- larger cooking pot
- baking dish
- peeler
- sieve
- cutting board
- knife
- wooden spoon
- few bowls
- Put the lentils in a larger bowl and rinse it few times. Transfer them to the cooking pot, cover with 5 cm / 2 in of water and cook on a low heat for about 15 minutes. Before the water starts to boil, add fresh mint in. If you don’t have fresh mint put the mint tea bag in the pot, count about 5 Mississippies and take it out. After 15 minutes lentils should puff and become soft. Put it in a sieve to drain excess water, then back to pot and season with about 2 tablespoons of salt, ½ tablespoons of ground pepper, chopped parsley and sour cream. Set aside to cool.
- Now, simultaneously with lentils, you should sauté the onion and crushed garlic until soft, take the garlic out, add tomato and simmer for 10 minutes.
- For that time also slice the celery root in thin strips, add in tomato sauce and cook for 15 minutes, or until celery slices become soft. Take off from the heat, add lemon juice and zest, tablespoon of black pepper, taste it, and if needed, add about 1 tablespoon of salt.
- Turn the oven to 190°C / 374°F.
- Take your baking dish and coat it good with olive oil. I used my casserole dish (8×11 inch / 20 x 30 cm), but any other baking dish with similar size will do.
- Divide both lentils and tomato mixture in half, put the lentil layer first, then tomato and celeriac layer, lentils again, and finish with tomato celeriac mixture.
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until cobbler gets nice crust. Turn the oven off, open the oven door, and let the cobbler sit in at least for 20 minutes.
- Serve warm.
This sounds like just the right dish for our cold Canadian weather right now – and I happen to have two celery roots in my fridge waiting for some inspiration – thanks for the great-looking recipe!
Margaret@KitchenFrau recently posted…Cooking With Kids: Caramel Popcorn Cake
You are right, Margaret. This dish is good to make while we’re waiting for the first snow…
Please do try it, you’ll love it – I hope ;)
Never made a savory cobbler before, this is definitely a recipe that I need to try!
Thalia @ butter and brioche recently posted…Izy’s Chocolate Chip Amaretto Torte
I know this recipe is somehow unusual; cobblers today are mainly made with some kind of fruit, but for example, the first cobblers were made with meat, yayks. The main thing about them is that they are really healthy dishes.
If you make it, please let me know the result ;)
Hi Jasmin!
I’ve never made a cobbler before.. it is a really interesting recipe! I will definetely try it!
have a nice weekend dear!
Hi Evi,
wish you a pleasant weekend too!
Do try this cobbler, you’ll enjoy munching it, for sure :)
Jasmin recently posted…Lentil Celery Cobbler
Looks delicious! I’m going to make this tomorrow, but have never seen vegan sour cream before (I live in the UK). What would be a good substitute? I have soy yogurt? Are the lentils like the biscuit topping on a cobbler? Can’t wait to make (and eat!) It, xXx
Hi Shauna,
I’m so glad you decided to make this cobbler – you’re going to love it ;) And the celery root acts as a topping…
Although soy yogurt can be great substitute in many recipes, I can’t guarantee you that it will work here. One reason is that I didn’t try this dish with it, and another is that sour cream acts as a binder, and soy yogurt has a thinner texture than cream.
If you don’t find vegan sour cream, my suggestion is to try adding yogurt, one spoon at a time until you get the compact mixture…
I don’t promote brands here, but I read on few vegan forums there are some dairy-free sour cream products in the UK that can be bought at health food shops and online too…
Oh, I love all the ingredients here too! I have never tried a savory cobbler before, so this made me now so excited!
Then maybe it’s the right time to try your first savory cobbler ;)
Very interesting, I’ve never seen such type of dish! Also, I especially like that you listed up the tools, makes a lot of sense.
Cobbler, funny word that is, haha
Thank you Howie…
Cobbler is quite a silly word, especially if you take into consideration that is also means a shoe repairer, and in New Zealand is a colloquialism meaning an awkward sheep to shear hihi ;)
Jasmin recently posted…Milk Soaked Chocolate Cake