Share the love with your loved one this Valentines Day with these delicious and heart-warming recipes from Le Creuset. Perfect to make together with the 20cm Cerise Cast Iron Casserole Dish, these recipes are perfect for a cosy night in.

The first recipe is a delicious beetroot, goats cheese and thyme soda bread, serve it with lashings of your favourite butter. The second recipe is a hearty spicy beef and chocolate casserole to add a touch of romance to your evening. 

Rippled with pink beetroot and salty goats’ cheese, although this bread is quick to make, it’s not lacking in flavour. Allow to cool before slicing. Simply enjoy with lashing of salted butter.

Makes 1 loaf

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 60 mins

Preheat the oven to 200°C/ Fan 180°C/ Gas Mark 6

1.    In a large bowl, combine the flours, salt, and bicarbonate of soda. Pour in the buttermilk and sprinkle in 75g of goat’s cheese.

2.    Add the black pepper and thyme before adding in the grated beetroot and stirring all the ingredients together to form a soft dough.

3.    Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead just a couple of times with clean hands to bring the dough together into a large, smooth ball.

4.    Grease the inside of the casserole with a little oil before placing the loaf in. Brush the loaf using a pastry brush with the milk and sprinkle over the remaining 15g cheese. Slash a large cross into the top of the loaf with a sharp knife.

5.    Place in the oven to bake for 60 minutes - the first 30 minutes with the lid on and the remaining 30 minutes without.

6.    Remove from the oven, turn out the bread onto a wire cooling rack and allow to fully cool before slicing and serving with lashings of salted butter.

Cook’s Notes

1.   To ensure the dough is not too wet, make sure to squeeze as much excess liquid out of the beetroot as possible - too much moisture and the bread will be claggy.

2.    Ensure the bread is turned out of casserole and fully cooled on a wire cooling rack to ensure the bread has chance to finish baking.

Yes, beef and chocolate cooked together! A zany idea, but it works, as it has done for centuries in Mexico, where chicken or turkey are also cooked with chocolate, to produce “Mole” a traditional dish.

Only a little chocolate is used. It thickens the juices as it cooks, resulting in a sauce that is dark and velvety smooth.

Combined with the hotness of the chillies and the aroma of cumin, cinnamon and parsley this is a recipe to surprise your loved ones.

The puff pastry heart croutons are not a must, but could add that touch of romance if you are cooking a valentine supper.

Serves 4

1.     Heat the oil in the heart casserole over a medium setting. Fry the onion until beginning to soften, but not brown.

2.    Add the cubed meat and brown evenly, stirring occasionally. Stir in all the remaining ingredients with one full (tomato) can of water. Season.

3.    Cover and cook in the oven for 2-2½ hours. Stir once during cooking. When the meat is tender, remove the casserole from the oven and raise the temperature for the pastry croutons.

4.    Whilst the casserole is cooking roll the pastry out to the thickness of a £1 coin. Use a large heart shaped cutter (approx 9cm long) to cut out 4 hearts. Brush with a little beaten egg and press a few pine nuts into the centre of each. Chill the hearts on a baking sheet for at least 1 hour before cooking

5.    Bake the hearts for 10-15 minutes until well-risen and golden brown.

Serve a portion of the beef and chocolate casserole topped with a pastry heart.