For the longest time, I’ve been wanting to buy a Le Creuset enameled cast iron pot. However, I’m not into serious cooking, neither do I cook a lot. And so, the price of a small pot just would not justify for the lack of use, at the same time, I’ve no oven big enough to fit a decent sized pot.

Lo and behold, I happened to be at Suntec last weekend and spotted the Le Creuset sale at one of the meeting rooms at the convention side. I couldn’t be happier! I thought, wow! Early Christmas pressie for moi! Then I got this 22cm round French oven at a very reasonable price indeed. Plus it’s suitable for use on induction cooktop.

 I was really excited to use my new toy. The next day I made beef stew or braised beef with it. The pot is a beauty, let me share more later. Now the ingredients for the stew.

1. 2 leftover conference pears skinned and cut into 1.5 inch pieces (they were so hard I could not eat them as is)
2. 4 Celery sticks cut into 1 inch long
3. About 8 leaves of sage
4. 750g beef chuck
5. 1 onion roughly cut
6. 3 cloves of garlic
7. 1 cup and a little more leftover red wine
8. Beef stock or chicken stock
9. Olive oil to fry beef
10. Salt/ pepper to coat beef
11. 1 tbsp corn flour to coat beef

    
    
 Method

1. Add 2 tbsp olive oil into pot, turn on heat
2. Brown the beef in 2 batches and set aside
3. Pour in all the garlic, onion, pear, celery, sage and sauté for 3min
4. Deglaze pot with red wine, let simmer
5. Add beef stock and return beef into pot. Let boil
6. Cover the pot and turn he heat down to medium low and simmer for 2hours. The pear would have almost disintegrated and celery soft
7. Add more celery/ carrots, simmer for 15min more before serving for some crunch. 

   
The result after 2.5 hrs or cooking is worth the wait.

   
The cooking process was delightful. Though I did not use oven, the beef and sauce turned out beautiful. The beef was fork tender and juicy, sauce/ gravy was so flavorful we could taste the aroma of the wine and sage, the sweetness from the pear and onion. The lid was so heavy and well sealed, there was no mess (bubbling of steam/ steam escaping) around the stovetop.

As per the Le Creuset website, each cast iron pot comes with a “heavy lid which enables the steam and condensation to trap inside the pot, which pulls out the flavour and nutrients of the original ingredients. It has excellent heat insulation, brings out the taste of warm food.”

The pot was a bliss to clean afterwards! I’m in love with it already! And convinced why many love and are willing to pay a high price for them.

Subsequently I made Seafood chorizo stew with the pot and the result was great.