Artist joining the writer and family for a small dish (7)
I believe the answer is:
ramekin
'a small dish' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'artist joining the writer and family' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'RA' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'joining' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'the writer' becomes 'me' (the person who wrote the clues).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'family' becomes 'kin' (synonyms).
'ra'+'me'+'kin'='RAMEKIN'
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for ramekin that I've seen before include "Small fireproof dish used for baking and serving food" , "Small round baking dish" , "Something to eat from" , "Individual baking dish" , "Small ovenproof dish" .)