This does very well in a Le Creuset pot:

Braised Beef with Onions and Dark Beer

2 pounds beef chuck, cut into cubes, visible fat removed
4 tablespoons flour, divided
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pound onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
12 ounces dark beer
1 cup beef broth
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 bay leaves
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon dark brown sugar

1.Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
2.Toss the beef with salt and pepper; coat with 2 tablespoons flour. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat; add the beef, in batches and saute until brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
3.When adding the last batch of meat, add the onions and saute until browned. Remove when the meat is browned. Lower the heat ; add the butter along with the remaining 2 tablespoons flour, stir and cook until your roux just starts to brown.
4.Continue to stir while slowly adding the beer, beef broth, vinegar and thyme. Once the sauce is smooth, and just starting to thicken, add the bay leaves, salt and pepper to taste along with the meat ,onions and any accumulated juices. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the top.
5.Cover and cook in the oven for 2 hours.
Note: If cooking in a pressure cooker, bring to a simmer; cover and bring to pressure. Lower heat and allow to cook for about 40 minutes. Turn off heat and allow pressure to release naturally.

Serve over your favorite pasta, rice or potatoes.

Teresa

I just posted two recipes over in a thread titled Brazilian New Year's Eve Dinner That were made in the large Le Creuset pot that was of the house.

Here's one: a Brazilian Fish Stew called Moqueca
{{gwi:2133883}}

The other cook used it for a Boeuf Bourguignon the previous day. I was the sous chef and remember most of the ingredients and steps, but I've not sure if I could come up with a complete recipe.

{{gwi:2133884}}

I know it had 8 pounds of beef, about 1/2 pound of bacon, Merlot, sweet onions, and about 2 pounds of sliced sauteed mushrooms.

I'll check whether Eric recorded his recipe.

Just use it like you would any other pot. You can use it on the stove top or in the oven.

You can also bake bread in your dutch oven.

~Ann

Like AnnT, I use mine for baking bread.

If not using the cockpot, I use my LeCreuset pots for soups and certainly French Onion Soup.

My new obsession for mine is stovetop lasagne. Maybe someday I will get to doing bread in it. Meanwhile, here's a link to a Web site I am working my way through. If I could afford the book I would get it.

One Pot Meals from Martha Stewart

Skillet Lasagne

Before starting the meat you can make a mirpoix of oil, onions, carrots and celery if you want, or some green pepper and mushrooms, whatever you would like in your pasta sauce, but if you use a jarred or canned sauce you don't have to do this, particularly if your sauce already contains onions, etc. So however much you want to flavor it up or not depends on your taste and time. Add garlic towards the end of this step if you want some. 1-2 tsp. is probably enough. I use the lower end of the garlic spectrum.

Brown a pound of some type of protein. Most recipes call for ground beef but I used ground turkey and next time I make it I may use a mix of meat and beans, or perhaps some veggie crumbles, and I'll bet you could use part italian sausage for flavor it you're a big meat eater. Salt the meat to your taste as it is browning. If the meat is fatty, drain before proceeding with the dish.

Add 1 large jar canned spaghetti sauce or Italian flavored tomato sauce. You need 26-28 fl. ounces of the sauce, so use whatever you have on hand that will equal that amount. I used a 24 oz. jar of Ragu spaghetti sauce and 2 oz. of my own home canned tomato basil sauce. You could also use canned tomatoes and canned tomato sauce, tomato paste, etc. to get the desired amount. Season to your taste with italian seasoning if you like. I tend to do this because I find store bought sauce bland, and if I am making the sauce from just plain tomato sauce, then I want a lot of seasoning.

Add 1 1/2 cups water.

When mixture is boiling lightly, add 3 cups pasta (you don't want a hard boil because too much of the water might evaporate if you do that, and then the pasta will stick--ask me how I know!). The pasta I used was broken up lasagne noodles and then some campanelii to supplement to 3 cups. You could also use mafalda ribbons.

Cook the pasta for about 15 min. Test for pasta being done. Your water should be absorbed and the sauce thickened. Watch out, since this dish actually might get too thick if you're not careful. You can always add more water to it if it starts to get too thick.

While the pasta is cooking, make the ricotta topping. The recipe says to use 16 oz. of ricotta, which is a typical container (although mine was 15). For my taste, this is too much, but your mileage may vary. Mix this with about an equal amount of chopped frozen spinach. I had a 16 oz. bag, which I used about half. If I had a 10 oz. package I would use it all. Mix the ricotta and spinach with 1/3 cup grated parmesean, a healthy pinch of basil or oregano or italian seasoning, and 1 TBSLP dried parsley if you have it. If you hate spinach you don't have to add it, just plain ricotta is fine, and if you have some other type of vegetable you would like ti mix in, like kale or shredded zuchinni or something else, by all means do it.

When the pasta is done, mix up the casserole to make sure the meat, sauce and pasta are evenly distributed. Spoon the ricotta mixture on top of the casserole and cook 5-7 min. more until the topping is heated through. Then, top the dish with 1 cup of shredded mozzarella or italian style shredded cheese and broil for about 3-4 min. until cheese melts.

Anything you can braise, works beautifully in it.
Browning chicken and adding rice and spices and liquid, makes a nice one-pot meal. I love it for chicken with 40 cloves of garlic.

LPink, I got that book from the library; lots of good meals in it!
The one-pot pasta with tomatoes and onions is on our regular roster. I add fresh green beans and use vegetable stock instead of just water.

This post was edited by jasdip on Tue, Jan 6, 15 at 16:40

Good to know that is a good book Jasdip. It's on my "Wish List" from Amazon. Meanwhile I am using the Web site. Plenty to keep me busy there! Oh, and BTW, I forgot to mention that the lasagne recipe above is from Food Network Tyler Florence. The way I set up the entry it looks like that is a recipe from the Martha Steward Book. It's actually a combo of a Tyler Florence and Betty Crocker recipe that I found online.

I use my Le Creuset for everything, including boiling pasta and making soup. :)

You asked for beef stew. My recipes are more guidelines than recipes, but here's one for you. The thing about the packets is that they're heavily seasoned. Lots more salt than I usually use, for instance, and possibly MSG or the building blocks of MSG. Your perception of "good" might be colored by these, and it might take making and adjusting a few times to get the flavor you want. If you like the packets, however, there's no shame in using them, and there's definitely no reason why you can't use your new pot.

Beef Stew

Makes about four quarts (a five quart recipe would be impossible to stir, so it's about the right amount for your pot)

1.5 lb. stew meat, seared over medium high to high heat. If it's very lean add a drop of oil.
1 onion, chopped and glazed in the beef fat/juice

Turn down pot to medium low
Add diced veggies:
peppers
mushrooms
celery
carrots
diced tomatoes, fresh or canned
Add dying veggies from fridge, chopped
1 can stewed tomatoes
New potatoes, fresh or canned

You might want to add a cup of stock or water at this point.

Simmer awhile

Add a cup or two of fresh or canned tomato juice and/or V8 or similar

Season. If you use cans, there's probably already a good amount of salt.

Gently simmer for a couple hours or boil and turn off a few times in an hour or two
add a little sherry
Taste, adjust seasoning, etc. and simmer.

Your pot is also perfect for traditional pot roast. :)

You might want to check out Molly Stevens' book 'All About Braising'. Lots of good info.

I've posted this a few times:

Here's one of my favorite cold weather recipes, a French bistro dish called Gigot de sept heures--yes, that's "Seven hour leg of lamb". I first ran across this dish in Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook. The first time I fixed it there were two teenagers in my house who claimed they didn't like lamb. Suffice it to say there were no leftovers. Bourdain makes the comment that when it's done, you should be able to cut it with a spoon. (In fact, another name for this dish is gigot a la cuillère, or ‘spoon lamb.’) Like all common recipes, there are lots of variations--but it's basically a braise in a heavy casserole dish. I used a deep cast iron Dutch oven with a tight fitting lid, and it worked great. Season the lamb with slivers of garlic, add liquid and vegetables, cover the pot, put it in a slow oven and DON'T PEEK for seven hours. Omigod, is it good--and easy!!
This is a perfect dish for a day when you have a lot of laundry or housework to do. You have to be in the house anyway, so you may as well have a no-stress supper cooking while you're doing other work. You put it in the oven at lunchtime, and after seven hours you have some juicy and scrumptious lamb. About a half hour before serving, cook up some noodles or something to catch the juices. --Here's Bourdain's version. You can use a little more wine if you want. The garlic cooks down so it’s not overpowering; do use at least the amount it calls for.

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 ‘fell’, covering a lot of its surface. Remove as much of it as practical--leaving it on will make the dish gamier because most 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: That’s not necessary if you have a casserole or Dutch oven with a fairly snug-fitting lid.) Place it in the 300˚oven and cook for 7 hours. Yes, 7 hours. NO PEEKING--leave it alone. A half hour before it’s 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.

This post was edited by arley on Thu, Jan 8, 15 at 14:46

Hello all, newbie here. Mustangs- your bread looks delicious; like I can tear into it with some butter:-). Would you mind sharing your recipe?

TIA,
Nerry

I love this version of Ropa Vieja. We had it just last week. Yum! Although, I must admit, I always omit the peas and use chuck, not flank. I also microwave the veggies to get my preferred texture without waiting. Below is her recipe copied from a website.

Ropa Vieja (old clothes) is a POW in your face kind of dish. Tasty, savory, and the star of the show!

Ropa Vieja by Daisy Martinez

This dish gets its name from the shredded texture of the beef, which resembles clothes so worn they’re falling apart. If you’re Cuban, please don’t come after me for using chuck steak instead of the more traditional flank steak. Both are delicious, but I prefer the texture of the shredded chuck to that of flank. Other than that, this is a traditional version of a Cuban standard, and it tastes even better the next day.

Serve with white rice or little boiled potatoes.

Yield : Makes 6 servings
Ingredients
One 2¼- to 2½ pound chuck roast or two 1¼-pound flank steaks
Fine sea or kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
Onion powder
3 tablespoons canola oil
½ cup Sofrito
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
Olive oil, as needed
Two 8-ounce cans Spanish-style tomato sauce
½ cups water
3 tablespoons alcaparrado or coarsely chopped pimiento-stuffed olives (see Notes)
2 bay leaves
4 celery stalks, with leaves, cut into ¼-inch dice
3 medium carrots, trimmed and cut into ¼-inch dice
1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
Directions
1. Pound the chuck roast or flank steaks with a heavy meat mallet until about ½ inch thick. Season both sides of the beef generously with salt, pepper, and onion powder.

2. Heat the canola oil in a large, heavy, ovenproof skillet over high heat until rippling. Add the beef and cook it until well browned on both sides, about 10 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Drain or spoon off most of the fat from the pan. Stir in the sofrito, 2 teaspoons salt, and the cumin, and bring to a boil. Depending on how much oil was left in the pan, you may have to add a little olive oil to give the mix a creamy texture. Stir in the tomato sauce, water, alcaparrado, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, cover the dish, put it in the oven, and bake until the meat pulls apart easily with a fork, about 2½ hours. Let stand in the sauce until cool enough to handle.

4. Shred the meat coarsely by hand or use two forks. Return it to the sauce and add the celery and carrots. Bring to a simmer over low heat and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the peas and cook a few minutes more. Watch the liquid as it cooks and add more broth or water as needed.

Notes
Alcaparrado, a mixture of olives, pimientos, and capers sold in bottles, is widely available. There are versions made with pitted and unpittled olives. Go for the pitted version. If you can’t find it, substitute an equal amount of coarsely chopped olives suffed with pimientos. Throw in a teaspoon of capers if you like.

I ended up making beef stew in it today. I did use the McKormicks mix mostly because I had no time to research recipes or experiment.

Anyhow, I loved how the beef did not stick to the pan during browning like it does in my stainless steel pot.

I was also very surprised how quickly the pot heated up. I thought it take a long time like my cast iron griddle but it did not.

All and all a joy to cook in and the stew was great too!

I made a pot roast yesterday in mine. Browned the meat in the pot, then added tomato sauce, beef stock, spices and I can't remember what else. Instead of cooking it on the stove I simmered it in the oven. After an hour I added onions and carrots. I personally don't care for potatoes in pot roast, so I made scalloped potatoes. Dinner was wonderful.

Stir fryi, congrats on initiating your pot! One of the things Le Creuset is known for is the quality of their metallurgy, which allows them to make their pots thinner than other cast iron. That's probably why it heated faster.

I too love the nonsticky qualities of enamel, but something you should know is that when you're browning meat and it sticks to the pan, it isn't done browning yet. When it's properly caramelized it should release. Occasionally a little spot will still stick where there was an imperfection, but that's how I know when to turn when I use stainless for browning.