Savory pizza cobbler

Biscuits over pizza toppings makes for a delicious casserole!

When someone mentions making or eating cobbler, what usually springs to mind is juicy, sweet fruit cooked with biscuit dough on top. But it occurred to me that there’s no reason why savory ingredients can’t get the same delicious treatment! Given my family’s unwavering love for pizza, I figured that would be a good initial experiment, and it proved to be a great success. Customize it with your favourite pizza toppings and make the biscuits with gluten-free flour if needed. Just like pizza, this dish is delicious hot but equally tasty at room temperature or straight out of the fridge. If this recipe appeals to you, you might also enjoy my pizza meatball casserole, pizza-stuffed portobello mushrooms or my pizza biscuits.

Ingredients

Pizza filling

• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 small green bell pepper, diced
• 8 – 10 mushrooms, diced
• 2 fresh plum (Roma) tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 cup (90 g) sliced green olives
• 1/2 cup (75 g) diced pepperoni (omit for vegetarians)
• 2 cups (500 mL) pizza sauce
• 1 cup (225 g) grated Mozzarella

Biscuit topping

• 1 1/2 cups (180 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon (15 g) baking powder
• 1 tablespoon (12 g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon (.4 g) each dried oregano and basil
• 1/3 cup (75 g) very cold salted butter (measure then freeze for 10 minutes)
• 1/3 cup (78 g) grated Mozzarella
• 2/3 cup (160 mL) milk
• Olive oil, for brushing biscuits

Method

• In a large (10 – 12 inch / 25 – 30 cm) skillet (use an oven-safe one like cast iron if you have it), warm the oil over medium heat, then add the onion. Sauté for 2 – 3 minutes until softened, then add the green pepper and mushrooms. Cook, stirring often, till peppers are softened (about 3 minutes) then add diced tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, 4 – 5 minutes more, until all vegetables are just softened. Remove from heat and stir in olives, pepperoni and pizza sauce.
• If baking the cobbler in the same skillet, place the pan on a cutting board or other heatproof surface and transfer to the refrigerator to cool. Otherwise, transfer the filling to non-metallic baking dish in which you’ll be cooking the cobbler (approximately 8 x 10 inches / 20 x 25 cm) and place the baking dish in the fridge. When filling has cooled, stir in grated Mozzarella.
• Note that filling can be prepared ahead of time, cooled and covered, then stored up to 48 hours. You can also transfer it to a container to store in the fridge until assembly.
• Line a small baking tray with parchment paper and set aside. Make the biscuit topping by placing the flour, baking powder, sugar, oregano and basil in a large mixing bowl.
• Grate the cold butter into the bowl and toss with your fingers to combine. Add grated Mozzarella and toss again.
• Add milk and stir quickly to form a shaggy dough. Working in the bowl, gently knead the dough with your hands until you can shape the mixture into a rough ball.
• Break off pieces of the dough slightly larger than golf ball size and shape each one gently into a ball. Flatten the balls to form disks approximately 3 inches (7.5 cm) across and 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick. Place on the parchment lined baking sheet to refrigerate while oven heats.
• Note: the biscuits can be covered and refrigerated for up to 24 hours.
• When ready to assemble and cook the dish, preheat oven to 400F.
• Place the prepared biscuits on top of the pizza filling (make sure you transfer it to an oven-safe dish if you’ve been storing it in a container in the fridge). Depending upon the size of your skillet or baking dish, the biscuits may not completely cover the filling, which is fine.  
• Spray or brush the tops of the biscuits lightly with olive oil then bake the cobbler in the preheated oven 22 – 25 minutes until biscuits are golden brown on top and filling is bubbling.

Serves 4.