The best casserole dish I have ever owned.

We we got married a few years ago we did a gift list at John Lewis and one of the things we put on the list was a Le Creuset Casserole dish. They are normally very expensive so to have one as a present was great.

According to the John Lewis website, the information on these pans is as follows, "Le Creuset has been making premium quality cast iron since 1925 at their foundry in northern France. Each piece is hand crafted and made from the finest materials to give you long lasting durability. Cast iron is an excellent heat retainer which means if keeps food warm at the table for longer and requires only low to medium heat sources. Every piece is made from an individual sand mould which makes each piece unique. Suitable for all cooker and hob types including induction.
They have a lifetime guarantee and are made in France.

The pans are round and quite deep and as they are made of cast iron they are very heavy. They have two handles either side so they are easy to pick up but you do need to get a good grip on them in order to lift them. Even the lid is quite heavy so you need to make sure you lift this properly too. The lid has a round disc handle at the top which you use to take the lid off. The lid fits nice and tightly onto the top of the pan so this keeps the food inside nice and warm. As the description of the pans say, cast iron is an excellent heat retainer and I definitely have to agree, these casserole dishes get very hot in the oven and stay hot so I am always careful getting this out of the oven and even touching it minutes later.

The best thing about them is that they make casserole preparation very easy. I have the 22 inch one and think this is definitely big enough for a family of three going on four. It is small enough for my oven without being too huge and of course small enough that I can lift it. I just throw in all my vegetables, meat and sauce and then throw it in the oven, job done. The food inside cooks really well and the pan keeps all the juices inside nicely. The great thing is I can take this out of the oven when it is done and still serve it up piping hot half an hour later as sometimes my husband is late home and dinner needs to be pushed back a bit, this is the only casserole dish I have been able to do this with.

What I also love about these pans is that they are very easy to clean. They get very dirty whilst using them and it looks as if you are never going to clean the dried on food off of them but they really do wipe clean, especially the lid which is another great benefit for me.

Like I've said above, these pans are quite expensive, a 20cm size one costs £79, a 24cm costs £100 and a 28cm costs £126 but with a lifetime guarantee I think this is well worth it. They also come in a variety of colours so you can tailor it to the look of your kitchen. We have the teal one but there are blues, volcanic red, almond and granite to name but a few.