A day in the life

 

 

I am so excited to tell you that I am working with Le Creuset this year! Growing up, I used to admire my mum’s colourful Le Creuset in our kitchen, hence why working with them was a big dream of mine. I often had this image in my head, me in my dream kitchen, with a lovely Le Creuset set to use and plenty of people to cook for. My life is made, I now have three Le Creuset casseroles! One is called Madame (I have already talked about her on here) and she is the Cast Iron 24cm Round Casserole in Shell Pink, the second one is Monsieur, the Cast Iron 30cm Shallow Casserole perfect for veggie lasagne or morning shakshuka, and the final one is the new Cast Iron 24cm Round Casserole in Meringue, she still doesn’t have a name … any ideas welcomed!

It was easy to fall in love with 2 of their new colours, shell pink (what else) and Meringue. One colour is great, but I think it is fun to be able to mix and match 2 main ones.  Because I am looking to remodel my kitchen very soon, I wanted to go with pale and pastel colours with my Le Creuset set. Meringue is so versatile and shell pink is for the Manon’s touch 🙂

 

My  breakfast set is in shell pink, which makes my favourite meal of the weekend, like a true special moment. I use the little mini casserole to make my own Bircher ( see recipe below ) and could easily use them to make some individual eggs and cream. Not forgetting the large shell pink tea pot – much needed for heavy tea drinkers like Luke and I – and the cutest egg cups!

 

 

Bircher Recipe:

For 4 portions

• 1 apple
• 1 1/2 ramekin of oat
• 1 ramekin of greek yogurt
• 1/2 ramekin of milk
• 1/2 ramekin of cranberries
• 1/2 ramekin of pistachios
• 2 tbsp of honey or maple syrup

Method:

Peel and grate the apple. Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix with a spatula. Divide the bircher inside 4 mini Le crest casserole and keep in the fridge for at least 2 hours. East cold for breakfast.

 

 

 

 

This is Madame but in Meringue. That size (24 cm) is so perfect for me. It makes meals for 4/5 and so great for Luke and I, as I try to make extra for lunch the next day. I love the fact you can use it as a normal pan, but also put it in the oven AND cover it. All in one; and all you need. It makes my mum’s provencal  Tian super easily . I cook the rice in it first, and there is no need to even rinse it, add the veggies on top, some stock, and in the oven with the lead on.

 

As I said previously, the casseroles are very versatile. Here, I am using my Meringue 24cm Cast Iron Casserole to make Parisienne Brioche, what a treat!

Parisienne Brioche recipe:

For 8 Brioches

• 500g bread flour
• 11g of salt
• 100g of caster sugar
• 300g of eggs
• 15g of instant yeast ( or 30g of fresh yeast)
• 250g of salted butter at room temperature
• One extra egg and some sugar crystals to decorate

 

Method:

In the bowl of an electric mixer with the knead attachment, add the flour, salt, sugar, eggs and

yeast. Mix for 5 minutes on low speed. Then increase the speed to medium/high to start to add elasticity

to the dough, for another 5 minutes.

Divide the butter in cubes, and slowly add to the mixer, still mixing.Mix for another 5 minutes until the dough is shiny and elastic.

Then form a ball, put inside a deep bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise for 1h at room

temperature.

After the hour is gone, press the dough down with your hands to extract some of the air in the dough.

Divide the dough in 8 equal balls. Divide one of these balls into 7 mini balls.

Lightly grease your Le Creuset casserole with some oil and place the 7 big balls of dough. Press a hole

with your finger in each of the balls and place a little ball of dough on top. Cover with the lid, and leave

to rise for 2h until it doubles in size.

Pre heat the oven at 170C fan oven. After 2h, Use a pastry brush to gently brush the top of the brioches

with the egg. Add some sugar crystals to cover the little balls from the top. Cover with the casserole lid

and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for another 15/20 min, until nice and brown on the

top.

Enjoy warm with some salted butter!