Give me your best dutch oven recipes

[teetime]

I am the proud new owner of a 3.5 and 5.5 quart le creuset and of a 7 quart cast iron dutch oven (the first two requested, the latter a surprise gift).  Help me christen them with something le creuset worthy!  (Our only other stove to oven covered pot is pretty light weight and I've done a braised chicken in there that was pretty good but looking to take advantage of the browning option now.)

Oh, I can't do a no-kneed bread which a year ago was behind my original interest in the 3.5 quart size and nothing else where flour can't be subbed out.

[rocketgirl]

I have an enamel-coated cast iron one that's a 5 Qt I think.  I have made macaroni and cheese in it and a squash casserole (basically my mac & cheese recipe except with italian cheeses instead of jack and cheddar, and squash instead of pasta, and the addition of fresh basil).  Those are dishes that go stove to oven.  I haven't tried anything else in it.

[BonitaApplebum]

First things first: what color le creuset did you get?

[merigayle]

I make everything in mine! I made a sweet potato quinoa chili on Monday.

[MikoftheWat]

Bratwurst
Potato
Carrot
Onion
Celery
Rehydrated white bean (or canned)
Garlic
Bay
 

Chop and mix together to your tastes, cover in chicken stock.  Throw on the fire for 45-60 minutes.  Let the stock reduce.  Holy shit it's good, especially for camping.

[caribougrrl]

the goat curry recipe blackswangreen posted in this thread is fantastic: http://chrunners.net/forum/index.php?topic=3616.0

this lamb pulao is also fantastic: http://fxcuisine.com/?Display=40

rabbit stew with dumplings is another favourite of mine, I roughly follow this recipe: http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/13034/perfect-rabbit-stew-and-dumplings.aspx, but use tarragon for the dumplings when I have it and white wine instead of beer, otherwise parsley and/or chives and stick to the beer...


it's hard to go wrong with boeuf bourguignon, I don't have a particular recipe I use.  In the dutch oven on the stove top, sautee chopped bacon, remove and set aside, brown lightly floured stewing beef in bacon fat, remove... if there's a lot of fat pour some off. Deglaze with a glass of brandy.  Add minced garlic, 1-2 finely chopped onions, and carrots (I like to keep the carrots whole, or cut in half if they are very large carrots), sautee until the onions and carrots start to soften.  Put the meat (bacon and beef) into the pot, add a chopped tomato or a tbsp or so of tomato paste, a bay leaf, some fresh thyme & parsley, some celery leaf, mix together.  Pour in a bottle of burgundy (or other dry red wine), add water or stock if needed to nearly cover the meat.  Bring to a boil, add a package of cleaned pearl onions, a packet of cleaned whole white mushrooms, put in a 250F oven for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half... you want the meat and veg to be very tender.

[teetime]

First things first: what color le creuset did you get?

We asked for Marseille (didn't see the Indigo at the time otherwise I think we may have gone for that blue instead) or Flame and my cousins went for the blue.  Since right now they are sort of out in the open (on an open hutch until we do some kitchen rearranging) and since the larger one we were given is a blue too, we're happy.   But that orange is very nice too. 

[teetime]

Bourguignon might be a good start.  I wonder if omitting the flour is okay or if I need to find something like almond flour that will work.  I am just trying to justify now having 3(!) of these things.  I have found between the old oven to stove pot my inherited from my grandfather's kitchen and our big stock pots (somehow have multiples of these too) and our crock pot (which I actually will only use for pot roast) we get by just fine.  But despite a strict no gift wedding we had very generous cousins who really wanted to give and my DH really wanted these and he's really happy so they aren't going anywhere (except maybe the 7 quart which is huge, heavy, and of unknown quality given the brand).

So I want to figure out what they do that other things don't do so well.  It's like finding out I can make tahini in the vitamix.  Now I feel at least it beats my blender in some regard.

(Yes, I'm crazy about clutter and would be happy living out of one backpack the rest of my life )

[caribougrrl]

Bourguignon might be a good start.  I wonder if omitting the flour is okay or if I need to find something like almond flour that will work.  I am just trying to justify now having 3(!) of these things.  I have found between the old oven to stove pot my inherited from my grandfather's kitchen and our big stock pots (somehow have multiples of these too) and our crock pot (which I actually will only use for pot roast) we get by just fine.  But despite a strict no gift wedding we had very generous cousins who really wanted to give and my DH really wanted these and he's really happy so they aren't going anywhere (except maybe the 7 quart which is huge, heavy, and of unknown quality given the brand).

So I want to figure out what they do that other things don't do so well.  It's like finding out I can make tahini in the vitamix.  Now I feel at least it beats my blender in some regard.

(Yes, I'm crazy about clutter and would be happy living out of one backpack the rest of my life )

all the flour really does is help thicken it... you could sub rice flour or cornstarch or just leave it out... I don't always bother with it because I usually use bone-in cuts (and usually moose, not beef) and the marrow does a sufficient job for thickening... so maybe use a bone-in cut or put a soup bone in!

[caribougrrl]

oh, and baked beans... I haven't yet found a recipe I'm entirely satisfied with, but my grandmother used to make amazing baked beans in her dutch oven

[witchypoo]

coq au vin - one of my dutch ovens is solely reserved for coq au vin.

otherwise, anything braised or stewed.  big baked desserts.  dumplings. 

[BonitaApplebum]

As far as really simple dishes go, I like to sear roasts on the stovetop and then go directly to the oven to roast (no lid).

[OldBaldHippie]

Pulled pork...

[cgraz]

I made this brisket for Easter and used my enameled Dutch oven, and it was amazeballs.

Only changes were that I made and served it the same day (poor planning), and I used my immersion blender to whiz the gravy & veggies instead of a regular blender.

[teetime]

I made this brisket for Easter and used my enameled Dutch oven, and it was amazeballs.

Only changes were that I made and served it the same day (poor planning), and I used my immersion blender to whiz the gravy & veggies instead of a regular blender.

Do you have a receipt for said brisket?!  I think this weekend will be a chicken with apricots and Moroccan spices since the apricots are dehydrating into mini hockey pucks (bought them and then went off sugar for two months!) but I have always thought the pot roast/briskets I do in our crock pot would be much better with a sear and oven finish.  I'm actually thinking the dutch oven is the perfect excuse to get rid of the giant mostly useless crock thing taking up half of my favorite (i.e., I can reach it) cupboard.

[cgraz]

Oops, sorry I didn't include the link! Doh!

http://www.spencerchan.com/2009/04/spencer-easter-brisket.html

[teetime]

Oops, sorry I didn't include the link! Doh!

http://www.spencerchan.com/2009/04/spencer-easter-brisket.html

Thanks!  Yesterday we had a zip car and spent an exorbitant amount at WF (for two relatively thin adults with zero children we have an embarrassing grocery bill but that's for another thread). 

DH was very interested in the brisket idea so I let him take the lead and he went with this recipe (except he only used about a 1/4 the amount of potato called for, tripled the amount of carrots, added a ton of button mushrooms, and used chickpea flour) http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/04/braised-brisket-with-potatoes-and.html  It looks and smells amazing, will know how it tastes after dinner tonight.  I'm curious to know how it compares to the crockpot version.  The color and smell are definitely better and we were able to add the veggies midway through which I'm sure will make them taste better than the 8hour cooked version.

Then I did an eggplant, cauliflower, chickpea stew in the 5qt.  The pot is amazing.  Clean up took 3 minutes and it just cooked far better than my big stock pot.  It's also really good but I did use lots more salt, doubled the spices, used double the amount of both tomato and eggplant.  For the vegetarians, highly recommend! http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/indian_spiced_eggplant_cauliflower_stew.html

[gebuh]

I think I got this from Enigma, Carne Guisada is amazing - though I put less liquid than called for:
http://www.food.com/recipe/carne-guisada-mexican-beef-stew-84098