Le Creuset Mini Cocottes
I love pretty pots. I once received a huge Le Creuset Dutch oven and an even bigger tagine from J as Christmas presents and I honestly could not have been happier. Somehow, casseroles seem so infinitely positive to me. I feel like a warm, giving person just looking at them, let alone using them to cook for someone. Evil persons do not make stews, I’m sure of that.
For a long time, if you wanted a good quality, good-looking cast iron pot, you had almost no choice but Le Creuset, or possibly Staub. This has changed: Lodge manages to produce Dutch ovens and other similar products that are very good quality and well-designed while being affordable. You can get decent casseroles from Ikea or Habitat. I still maintain that Le Creuset’s quality is excellent and their colour selection the best (the matte range in particular is achingly classy), but there are plenty of reasons to look around and avoid being a brand snob.
But as soon as I did start looking around, the clever people at Le Creuset found another way to seduce me: mini cocottes! These are, officially, the cutest things in the world after pandas. As a bonus, you can use them for cooking. They are great for individual portions of gratins or tiny lasagnes or desserts. Anything you can make in a ramekin, you can make in these. Cocottes can of course also be used purely for their considerable aesthetic value, to serve something you have cooked with more conventional methods.
The first thing I used my minis for was baking eggs. You can put almost anything on the bottom of the little pot – salmon, mushrooms, tomatoes, herbs, bacon, cheese, you name it, crack an egg on top and bake in the oven at around 180 degrees (in a bain-marie, preferably) for 15 minutes or so. It makes for a great breakfast/brunch dish, especially if you have run out of ideas to make eggs exciting. The only issue I have with these little pretty pots is that while I own six of them in wonderful colours, I need at least six more.
PS They really are small, a bit more than 10 cm in diameter – see the lime for size.
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In my opinion, there are few things more satisfying than a small round container of any sort. (Other shapes are okay, but round is definitely better.) They are sort of like lists: everything is transformed from a disorganized random jumble into something more manageable, or something that at least appears to be so. Also, they’re portable and provide evidence that you have made an effort to get your sh** together. Even better when you actually have gotten food together in one, and everyone can enjoy the fruits of your labor.
These mini cocottes are so adorable, and what could be better than taking something out of the oven and straight to the table? You definitely need at least six more. 😉
Yes to everything you say, although I do like oval Dutch ovens as well. I was just thinking the other day, what I could posssibly do after the Armageddon, as I have no useful skills. But maybe I could cook?