A new cast iron pan - I'm a grown-up!!

[saltededamummy]

At last, after years of lusting after one, I have finally indulged & bought an enameled, cast iron, oven-proof frying pan. It's a thing of beauty! And at only £19 (from Lidl) I'm v pleased with myself
I've washed & seasoned it per the instructions so am ready to go.... and my mind has gone blank. What should I cook? How can I use this wonderful thing? Any ideas will be appreciated - we're a family of 4 (+two occasional, hungry 20-somethings) & we're quite adventurous with new tastes.

Paella - a favourite here
Spanish omelette

How did you get on with the seasoning? I bought a cast iron griddle pan the other day and just smoked and stunk out my kitchen with seasoning attempt. Failed miserably, rust appeared already and I can just see the pan being chucked.

Hi jollo,
Don't throw it away! (or if you do, throw it in my direction please)
All i did was to follow the instructions that came with the pan, it wasn't too taxing really - as follows....

1. Fill pan with water & gently bring to the boil for 5 mins, replace & repeat (took a while but removed lots of impurities from manufacture)
2. Wash with warm soapy water; dry thoroughly.
3. Grease with an unflavoured veg oil, quite generously, make sure you cover it all inc the edges - basically anything that's not enameled; gently warm the pan up & the oil will soak in. I don't think it got to smoking point, certainly it was quite hot.
4. When it's cooled down, wipe out the excess grease.

I've used it once so far, frying left over spuds for tea, it worked out very well!
Risotto will come another day, as will my dream of a tarte tatin, hopefully - thanks for recipe tips!