Lilliputian Execution in the kitchen
October 22, 2010 9:26 AM   Subscribe

Just got my gf a set of three .25 quart cast iron mini-cocottes. What delicious vegetarian recipes can she make with them?

She now has 3 of these mini cocottes/dutch ovens. They're enamled cast iron, so they distribute heat evenly and are very non-stick. But they are quite small. I'd like to help her come up with some interesting dishes.

So far, we have

mini eggplant parmesan
eggs-en-cocotte with creamed mushroom

aaaand that's about it. Please help us make some tiny delicacies! She has 2 roommates, and they make dinners together semi-frequently, so I think the set of 3 lends itself well to sidedishes as well as heartier fare. All recipes/ideas welcome!

[note: Apparently, "cocotte" is french for "prostitute". So, um, NSFW in France, apparently.]
posted by gettingpaidforthis to Food & Drink (7 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Those are so cute. They contain a cup, right?

- Shirred eggs are a great idea - they're wonderful with tomato, creamed spinach, leftover stew/braise-y things, basically anything that would be nice in an omelet.

- single-serve pot pies or shepherd's pies - i'd probably do pot pies with a top crust only to maximize filling.

- single-serve desserts, cobblers and bettys and crumbles

- mini lasagnas and baked pastas

- mini terrines of layered vegetables

basically, anything casserole-like will work, just scaled down.
posted by peachfuzz at 9:43 AM on October 22, 2010


OMG CUTE! Want. Amazon has a wee cookbook of recipes for these things for $11. It got two bad reviews primarily due to oversized recipe proportions, see for yourself, but it's nice to know it exists since maybe it means there are other free mini-cocette-focused recipes floating around out there.
posted by Askr at 10:37 AM on October 22, 2010


Scale down this Pixar-inspired ratatoille recipe from Smitten Kitchen, or modify to your liking. It's delicious.
posted by deludingmyself at 11:31 AM on October 22, 2010


Spellingfail: that's ratatouille.
posted by deludingmyself at 11:32 AM on October 22, 2010


i like peachfuzz's ideas. here's one more: bake cornbread inside, and then slice off the top, scoop out a little bit, serve with chili beans, crumble the top back over them.

three is kind of a weird number for a set. I have a set of six, and they're a lovely way to serve delicious-but-gloppy things for dinner parties, as you get your own serving instead of a slice out of a big casserole.

some of these suggested recipes are messy/sticky. make sure you put the back in a hot oven after you clean them, so you get all the water out of them and they won't rust. wipe them down with a crisco-covered paper towel when still hot, then cool them, and store them open-side-down to keep them dust-free so you can just use them again for the next recipe.

P. S. you can make vegetarian shepherd's pie with mushrooms and/or seitan or TVP.
posted by ChefJoAnna at 11:42 AM on October 22, 2010


French onion soup!?
posted by ke rose ne at 1:10 PM on October 22, 2010


OOoh - we have similar size dishes (although 8 - as ChegJoAnna says, 3 is an odd number.) we use them for fancy mac-n-cheese, baked custards ... so much. Lovely idea!
posted by darsh at 1:11 PM on October 22, 2010


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