If your French oven has an interior enamel finish, then you can heat oil for frying without harming the pot. If it has a non-stick finish or something else, I wouldn't take the chance.

Maybe you couldn't find specific recipes because most of us use this pot for just about everything! I use mine for soup, stew, No Knead bread recipes, rice, pasta, baked beans, chili, etc.

A link to my pot roast is below.

Here is a link that might be useful: my pot roast recipe at All Recipes

I've posted this a few times; it's my favorite way to cook lamb. It's particularly good on a day when you have to be in the house anyway doing chores; it's about a half hour of prep at lunchtime and then there is nothing to do until it's done except perhaps for cooking up some rice or noodles right before it's done. This is from Anthony Bourdain's 'Les Halles Cookbook'.

GIGOT DE SEPT HEURES (Seven hour leg of lamb)

1 leg of lamb, about 6#
4 garlic cloves, sliced, plus 20 whole garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
salt & pepper
2 small onions, thinly sliced
4 carrots, peeled
1 bouquet garni
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup flour, 1 cup water

Preheat oven to 300˚ F. (If necessary, trim most of the external fat off the lamb. Some legs of lamb will come with a heavy fatty connective tissue, called the fellÂ, covering a lot of its surface. Remove as much of it as practicalÂleaving it on will make the dish gamier because a lot of the gamy flavor is in the fat and connective tissues.) Make many small stab incisions in lamb and place slivers of garlic in each incision. Rub lamb well with olive oil, season with salt & pepper. Place it in Dutch oven and add onions, carrots, bouquet garni, garlic, wine. Put lid on Dutch oven. Combine flour and water, make a 'caulk' and use it to seal the lid to the dutch oven. (Note: ThatÂs not necessary if you have a casserole or Dutch oven with a fairly snug-fitting lid.) Place it in the 300Ëoven and cook for 7 hours. Yes, 7 hours. NO PEEKING--leave it alone. A half hour before itÂs done, fix some noodles or rice or couscous to soak up the juices.

Remove the Dutch oven and break the seal. You don't eat the cooked flour paste.
That's it. About a half hour to an hour of prep, then you leave it the heck alone for 7 hours. It's nearly foolproof. Serve it with whatever else you want, and a medium bodied red wine goes quite well with this (say, a nice Zinfandel) but a dry white (such as the remainder of the bottle you opened to get the cup of wine in the recipe) is fine as well if that's your preference.

The very first thing I made in mine was Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon. Then I made her Coq au Vin, then I made the Beef Bourguignon again! That's as far as I've gotten with mine. I absolutely love it, however, I just haven't had much time lately for cooking which I am NOT happy about!

Lisa

Love my Le Creuset too - I find it to be my most versatile piece of cooking equipment! I use it often for soups and stews.

Sue

I've made the following recipe for Chicken and Dumplings a couple dozen times in my Le Creuset dutch oven and it turns out fabulous. Don't skip the sherry!
Your family will adore you!
Be careful of the salt if you don't use low sodium. I use Swanson's low sodium. Also, I never have to add the extra two teaspoons of oil in step one for the second batch of thighs because there is enough fat in the pan.

Here is the video if you'd like to watch,...it's from Cook's Illustrated America's test kitchen: http://www.americastestkitchentv.com/cookstv/preview/default.asp?req=1&station=mainChannel&video=s6/chickenanddumplings

Don't use low-fat or fat-free milk in this recipe. Start the dumpling dough only when you're ready to top the stew with the dumplings.

INGREDIENTS
Stew
5 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
4 carrots , peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 ribs celery , sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 large onion , minced
6 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup dry sherry
4 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
1 cup frozen green peas
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
Dumplings
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons reserved chicken fat (or unsalted butter)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. For the Stew: Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, then season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add half of the chicken and cook until golden on both sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and remove the browned skin. Pour off the chicken fat and reserve. Return the pot to medium-high heat and repeat with the remaining 2 teaspoons oil and the remaining chicken. Pour off and reserve any chicken fat.

2. Add the butter to the Dutch oven and melt over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, celery, onion, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook until softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in the flour. Whisk in the sherry, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in the broth, milk, thyme, and bay leaves. Nestle the chicken, with any accumulated juices, into the pot. Cover and simmer until the chicken is fully cooked and tender, about 1 hour.

3. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Discard the bay leaves. Allow the sauce to settle for a few minutes, then skim the fat from the surface using a wide spoon. Shred the chicken, discarding the bones, then return it to the stew.

4. For the Dumplings: Stir the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Microwave the milk and fat in a microwave-safe bowl on high until just warm (do not over-heat), about 1 minute. Stir the warmed milk mixture into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon until incorporated and smooth.

5. Return the stew to a simmer, stir in the peas and parsley, and season with salt and pepper. Following the photos below, drop golf-ball-sized dumplings over the top of the stew, about 1/4 inch apart (you should have about 18 dumplings). Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the dumplings have doubled in size, 15 to 18 minutes. Serve.

TECHNIQUE
Getting it Right: Adding the Dumplings

1. Gather a golf-ball-sized portion of the dumpling batter onto a soup spoon, then push the dumpling onto the stew using a second spoon.

2. Cover the stew with the dumplings, leaving about 1/4 inch between each.

3. When fully cooked, the dumplings will have doubled in size.

I make Bolognese Sauce, Pot Roast, Chicken Soup, Coq au Vin in my LC DO's. I've also roasted a chicken in it. As others have said, you can do just about anything. What size do you have?

Julia Child cooked just about everything in her Le Creuset pots. You could get one of her cookbooks (the classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking, or the one she did with Jacques Pepin, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home).

I meant to add to my previous post in regards to your question about high heat - the only warning regarding LC and high heat has to do with the phenolic knob on the lid which could melt. Le Creuset makes a replacement stainless steel knob which you can put in any degree oven with no problem.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I am so excited about using my french oven. Mine is 7.5qt. Since high heat is not a problem I am going to make my dh some homemade donuts in it and this weekend a Boliche.

Next I will refer back to this post and make the great recipes posted here. I am always game to try something new.

Thank you again.

As you know, enameled cast iron's forte is long, slow cooking with very little variation of temperature; it takes a while to get it up to temp and also takes it a while to come down. That makes it perfect for braising; brown something on top of the stove and then add a little liquid and finish the dish in a slow oven or on a slow burner.

If you want to pursue this, you might want to get a copy of Molly Stevens' excellent cookbook 'All About Braising'. Amazon has it for $23, but I found a used one online for about $10. She uses enameled cast iron Dutch ovens a lot. Lots of great recipes for long, slow, 'unfussy' cooking.

One tip from Ms Stevens: to make a good seal on the pot, get a piece of foil (or parchment paper) slightly larger than the pot's opening. Place the foil over the pot's opening and push the center of the foil in a little bit so that the center of the foil is an inch or so lower than the rim of the pot. Then place the lid on the pot, on top of the foil. This does two things: one, it improves the seal between the lid and the pot, and two, it makes a fairly effective 'self-basting' setup. Vapors arise from the pot and condense on the foil, and drip back down on the meat.

You're gonna have a lot of fun with your LC. Bon Appetit!