Dominique Crenn’s Grilled Asparagus Recipe
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Dec 15, 2022 • 7 min read
Chef Dominique Crenn’s grilled asparagus recipe is a delicious twist on the classic side dish. Chef Crenn starts by blanching the asparagus in a flavorful broth made with vegetable scraps, then quickly grills some of the blanched asparagus on a hibachi. She finishes the dish with a swipe of lemon-scented crème fraîche and raw asparagus curls. Get the recipe here.
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Meet Dominique Crenn
Dominique Crenn is an award-winning chef and advocate for sustainability and equity in the culinary world. Though she is now among the world’s most celebrated chefs, her path to culinary greatness was not without its challenges. After being turned away from many French culinary schools due to antiquated opinions about female chefs, Chef Crenn set out for California, where she forged her own culinary identity rooted in personhood, memories, and mindfulness.
In San Francisco, Chef Crenn opened Atelier Crenn, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant where diners receive a poem instead of a menu, with each dish represented by a line of poetry. Chef Crenn describes her food philosophy as “poetic culinaria.”
What Is Grilled Asparagus?
Grilled asparagus is a preparation of asparagus involving the direct heat of a charcoal grill, gas grill, or hibachi grill. Grills allow you to place meat or vegetables in close contact with your fuel source, creating a smoky char. Often relegated to the role of side dish, grilled asparagus becomes the star of the plate in Chef Dominique Crenn’s Grilled Asparagus With Crème Fraîche recipe. Learn how to grill asparagus the standard way, then give Chef Crenn’s interpretation a try.
About Dominique Crenn’s Grilled Asparagus Recipe
This recipe begins with court bouillon vegetable stock, a cornerstone of French home cooking made from whatever vegetables are available to you at a given moment in time.
Chef Crenn recommends starting the stock first and adding the vegetable trim (discarded parts like stems, seeds, and rinds) as you prepare your mise en place so that the liquid absorbs the flavors of asparagus. Express the particularity of the season by adding other spring vegetables, such as fennel or parsnip. The lemon, chives, and crème fraîche contribute to the brightness and freshness of the final dish.
4 Tips for Making Grilled Asparagus With Crème Fraîche
This recipe features simple ingredients—asparagus seasoned with a squeeze of lemon juice, flaky sea salt, and olive oil—so it’s important for the asparagus to be at its peak. Here’s what else to know:
- 1. Trim the asparagus properly. Thick asparagus spears tend to have woody ends. For the best eating experience, use a paring knife to trim the tip of the spear, then use a vegetable peeler to remove a couple of inches of the outer skin, starting at the base of the asparagus. Thin spears will likely require less prep work. Learn more about how to cut asparagus.
- 2. Blanch the asparagus before grilling. Blanching the fresh asparagus before grilling it ensures that it will be perfectly fork-tender. The blanched asparagus will only need a minute or two on the grill to achieve char marks and a crispy texture. Learn more about blanching asparagus.
- 3. Use an ice bath. The ice bath—a large bowl of roughly equal parts ice and cold water—plays two roles in this recipe. First, it stops carryover cooking of the blanched asparagus, ensuring the perfect crisp-yet-tender texture and bright green color. Later, you can use the same ice bath to make the asparagus curls. The ice-cold water causes thinly shaved asparagus to form tight curls. (You can use this technique with other shaved raw vegetables, like carrots.)
- 4. Use the grill you have on hand. Chef Crenn likes to grill asparagus on a hibachi, a small Japanese grill that requires less fuel and has narrower grill grates. However, you can cook asparagus on any type of grill, including a cast-iron grill pan, which will give your asparagus stalks grill marks but won’t add a smoky flavor. Use tongs to arrange the asparagus spears perpendicular to the grates. If you decide to invest in a hibachi grill, Chef Thomas Keller can show you how to make hibachi chicken.
How to Make Dominique Crenn’s Grilled Asparagus With Crème Fraîche
Cut off the ends of the asparagus spears, then use a peeler to remove the skins. Blanch the asparagus in vegetable broth and then transfer it to an ice bath to stop the cooking. After thirty seconds, transfer the blanched asparagus to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Then, use a hibachi grill to to lightly char the blanched asparagus.
To make the crème fraîche sauce, whisk together the crème fraîche and lemon juice, then season with salt and pepper to taste.
Use a mandoline to shave raw asparagus into thin ribbons. Transfer the asparagus ribbons to a bowl of ice water and let sit until curled, about ten minutes. Season the curled asparagus with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. To serve, place the grilled and raw asparagus on a bed of crème fraîche sauce and garnish with fresh herbs.
Dominique Crenn’s Grilled Asparagus With Crème Fraîche Recipe
makes
prep time
30 mintotal time
1 hr 10 mincook time
40 minIngredients
For the court bouillon:
For the blanched asparagus:
For the crème fraîche:
For the grilled asparagus:
For the curled asparagus:
For serving:
Make the court bouillon:
- 1
In a large stockpot set over medium heat, bring the filtered water to a simmer.
- 2
Slice the trimmed leek, carrot, and onion in half lengthwise, then roughly chop both halves of each vegetable.
- 3
If you’re using any additional vegetables, roughly chop them and add them to the stockpot.
- 4
Add the leek, carrot, onion, garlic, and parsley to the stockpot, and simmer for 15 minutes.
- 5
Add the thyme, then simmer for 10 minutes more.
- 6
Add the lemon slices to the stock, then raise the heat, bringing the liquid to a boil.
- 7
Once the stock boils, remove the pot from the heat and strain the stock through a chinois into a large container or pot.
- 8
Discard the strained vegetables.
- 9
Place the strained stock back into the original pot, and place that pot back on the stove, lowering the heat to a simmer.
- 10
While the stock simmers, prepare the asparagus.
Make the blanched asparagus:
- 1
Remove the fibrous ends of the asparagus spears, then use a peeler to remove the skins carefully.
- 2
Lay the spears down on a cutting board and gently remove the outer layer, starting below the tip and peeling toward the ends.
- 3
Rotate the stems, and repeat the peeling process until the whole asparagus is clean.
- 4
Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl, leaving several inches of space for displacement.
- 5
Salt the boiling stock with kosher salt, then blanch the trimmed and peeled asparagus: Working in three batches, transfer the asparagus to the boiling stock, and keep the spears submerged for at least 30 seconds and up to 2 minutes, based on size. (The larger they are, the more time they’ll need.)
- 6
After 30 seconds to 2 minutes, use a spider skimmer to remove the asparagus spears from the boiling stock and immediately transfer the spears to the ice bath.
- 7
Keep them submerged in the ice bath for 30 seconds.
- 8
After 30 seconds, transfer the asparagus spears to a plate or tray lined with paper towels to drain. Discard the stock.
Make the crème fraîche:
- 1
In a medium bowl, whisk together the crème fraîche and the juice of 2 lemon wedges.
- 2
Season, to taste, with fleur de sel or kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
- 3
Add a ¼ of the lemon zest to the crème fraîche, and whisk to incorporate. (Save the remaining lemon wedges for the grilled asparagus/curled asparagus.)
Make the grilled asparagus:
- 1
Prepare a hibachi grill or other grill according to the manufacturer’s directions.
- 2
Grill 8 of the blanched asparagus spears over high heat for 1 minute, then flip and grill them for 1 minute more, until they’re lightly charred in some spots.
- 3
Once you’ve grilled the asparagus, move the spears to a plate or tray for seasoning.
- 4
Squeeze the juice of 1–2 lemon wedges onto the asparagus, then use a basting brush to add a thin layer of olive oil.
- 5
Season, to taste, with fleur de sel or kosher salt and lemon zest.
Make the curled asparagus:
- 1
In a large bowl, prepare an ice bath. (You can reuse the bowl from the previous ice bath—just refresh the ice as needed.)
- 2
Set a mandoline to 3 millimeters, and shave the raw asparagus lengthwise into very fine ribbons.
- 3
Submerge the asparagus ribbons in the ice bath until they curl, about 10 minutes.
- 4
After 10 minutes, transfer the curled asparagus to a paper towel to drain.
- 5
Season the curled asparagus with the juice of 1–2 lemon wedges, olive oil, fleur de sel or kosher salt, and freshly cracked black pepper.
Plate and serve the dish:
- 1
Spoon a bed of the crème fraîche onto a plate.
- 2
Alternate 2 spears of grilled asparagus with 4 blanched asparagus in a row atop the sauce.
- 3
Use tweezers to arrange the curled asparagus ribbons on their edges so that their shape contrasts with the rows of grilled asparagus.
- 4
Use tweezers to decorate the dish with garlic flowers, shallot blossoms, or any fresh herbs such as chives.
- 5
Drizzle with olive oil.
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