A New Toy For Valentine's Day - The Traveling Locavores

A New Toy For Valentine’s Day originally published on Food and Fond Memories on March 1, 2011 by sandyaxelrod 4 Comments (Edit)

A New Toy For Valentine’s Day

A large stainless steel sauté pan with lid in foreground and colorful ceramics in background.

My New Toy!

I know it doesn’t seem like the most romantic gift but when Steve asked me what I wanted for Valentine’s Day I responded without hesitation. I wanted an All-Clad 4 quart saute pan with domed lid (they call it their brown and braise pan) and since as they say timing is everything it just happened to be on sale at a greatly reduced price at Sur la Table. I was shocked when his response was “okay, go get it”! And yes I went the very next day. Of course somehow I couldn’t bring myself to use it until Valentine’s Day. It was just so shiny and gorgeous I was almost afraid to mar its pristine beauty by cooking in it but I did overcome my fear and used it to make the most amazing Oyster Pan Roast.

On right a brown crock with turquoise interior filled with an oyster stew sitting on a butcher block. On left is a wooden bread tray with slices of French bread. Between the two items is some chopped parsley directly on the butcher block.

Oyster Pan Roast

I had actually planned my menu for our romantic repast a couple of days ahead when I stumbled upon containers of shucked oysters at COSTCO. I immediately plucked two containers from the case as my mind raced through my storehouse of recipes. My plan was to start with fried oysters and follow with the oyster pan roast and then have milkshakes for dessert. But when Steve and I realized just how filling oysters can be because they are so rich we decided to save the pan roast for the next night. You know at our age we don’t like to be romantic on a full stomach. It tends to make us sleepy not sexy. But I digress…I was so totally blown away by the performance of my new pan. The first thing that I did was caramelize onions and watching them turn from white to golden brown so evenly was truly a thing of beauty!

Large sauté pan filled with caramelizing onions

Onions Caramelizing in my New Toy

This brings me back to the topic of getting what you pay for from an earlier post. The people at CSNStores.com have asked me to do another product review. I am thrilled because I will be reviewing another piece of cookware from a company whose products I already love Le Creuset. I have been using their products since I began my life with Steve 42 years ago on March 23! When you pay dearly for something you expect a lot in return. When you can use something like my Le Creuset casserole for 42 years you suddenly realize that the investment was well worth it!!!