I’ve long been envious of my sister’s Le Creuset dutch oven. I cook enough braises to wish I could easily do the stove to oven thing so easily. I have often expressed said envy within earshot of J who is the most attentive listener. As proof he got my very own Le Cruset braising pot. It’s a relatively shallow pot that looks like a paella pan and works wonderfully. The best thing, as attested by my sister and her fiance, is the cleaning up. When you use it, you will thing that nasty blackened pot will never get clean and ONE WIPE OF A SPONGE will wash away all your fears. The enamel on the most wonderful pot ever made makes washing a breeze. Believe me, it’s work every penny (and that’s a lot of pennies).
My cooking related gifts - The Le Creuset and my awesome cooking clogs
Only two days into owning it and I’ve made two dishes.
The first is seared pork loin made a la Gettin Saucy. BUT I decided to go all out and sear the pork loin in the Le Cresuet and deglaze the pan with port wine and a canned black truffle gravy my mother brought from France. On top of that, I roasted some shallots and shoved the whole mess in a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes for the pork to cook through. By the end of the cooking the pan was crusted with black and brown stuff. All of it came of with a wipe of the sponge.
This was all part of my master plan to do a multi-course plated dinner for the family that included:
Course 1
Arugula salad with sherry vinaigrette, crisped proscuitto, and croutons
Course 2
The seared pork tenderloin with roasted shallots and port sauce
Roasted asparagus
A Cauliflower parsnip puree (add parsnips. They are delicious and creamy)
Course 3
Nigella Lawson’s chocohotopots
Sugar free pumpkin mousse with ginger cookie crumbles
