Cleaning Up an Old Le Creuset Dutch Oven

I found this little gem at an estate sale.  It's an older 1 quart Le Creuset Dutch Oven.  You can tell it is older by the handle on the lid. 

Newer lids have the black handle

 

The older Dutch ovens were marked on the bottom of the pots and the undersides of the lids as to what size they were.  "A" indicates this is a 1 quart.

 I bought it for only $11 but it was really nasty on the inside.  Nasty dirty, but there were no huge chunks out of the bottom. Since it was so cheap I thought I'd buy it and try to get it back to a usable state.

First order of business was getting off the "old nasty". I soaked it in hot sudsy water; I use Dawn dish washing soap.

Then gave it a good scrub. This is a good scrub pad to use on your enameled cast iron.  You don't want to use an SOS - type product or abrasive cleaners.

This was the next step.  I poured several inches of Hydrogen Peroxide into the pot and 1 Tbsp. of baking soda.  

I brought it to a boil then lowered the heat, put the lid on and simmered for 15 minutes.  I let the mixture cool down and then used the Dobie pad to really scrub the inside.  I used a good amount of elbow grease on the grimey parts.

This is how it turned out.  Not bad.  Got the sticky gunk out of it but it still was not as clean as I would want in order for me to cook in it.

 The final step was a good soak in OxiClean.

Four cups water and a half scoop of the powder (scoop comes with the OxiClean) .  Stir around every once in a while to dissolve and let sit for about 6 hours on the counter top.

After one more cleaning in hot sudsy water here is what I have!  All ready to use! Now there is no reason to spend $140.00 on a new one (smiling to myself)
 

An Abundance of Herbs

Sometimes I end up with herbs that will go to waste if I don't use them.  Sometimes the herbs on my patio are growing like wildfire so I'm blessed with an abundance.  Sometimes a recipe will call for a fresh herb that I don't grow so I rely on the fresh herbs at the market where you have no choice but to buy a large bundle of the herb.

When I find myself in this position, I freeze the herbs into ice cubes.

Recently I had an abundance of rosemary.  I stripped the leaves from the stems.  if you like, you can chop the herbs instead of leaving them whole as I've done.

Fill the compartments of an ice cube tray with the herb

Gently fill each compartment with water.   Place the ice tray in the freezer and freeze until rock hard solid.

Pop them out of the ice tray and store them in a freezer bag.  They are great to use when you need herbs for soups and stews; just toss a couple into the pot!

Random Cooking Tips-Removing Kernels From an Ear of Corn

Last week I made Lovey a Bison Shepherd's Pie.   Just like my regular but with Bison.  Notice I don't say regular and not traditional because the traditional Shepherd's Pie is made with lamb; and Lovey won't eat lam.

As I was getting all of my ingredients together and prepped, I thought I'd show you how I get the kernels of corn off the cob (I initially typed 'cornels of kern'  - I don't know why I do things like that.  I've also been known to say 'Liquid Lumberdators' instead of Lumber Liquidators).

Anyway...

My dad called me one day and told me about this clever way to perform this little task so the kernels didn't fly across the room as they were sheared off the cob. 

All you need is a Bundt pan, or other tube pan.  This one is actually a smaller version of the regular size.  Hold your shucked corn cob into the center hole and start slicing from top to bottom.  The kernels fall right into the pan.

Now Lovey can eat his Shepherd's Pie with the peace of mind that half the kernels weren't on the floor first.