Scook: The Complete Cookery Course

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Anne Sophie Pic cover 2

If you are a serious cookbook collector, Scook needs to be high on your list, as long as you have a shelf large and strong enough to hold it!  Scook is huge and heavy.  And wonderful.

Author Anne-Sophie Pic is a French chef known for gaining three Michelin stars for her restaurant, Maison Pic, in southeast France.  In 2007, Pic became the only female chef in France and only the fourth woman in history to earn the top honor of the culinary world: a three-Michelin star rating.  She was also named the Best Female Chef by the The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2011.  Even though the honors are highly impressive, Pic writes her cookbook so all of us can enjoy cooking her food in our own kitchens.  The cookbook will instruct step-by-step how to achieve success with Pic’s recipes, everything from how to peel and dice tomatoes properly, or how to cook a lobster, to mastering a souffle, blanquette of veal, or a perfect macaron.

Pic believes her success comes because of, not in spite of, being a woman.  She considers her taste combinations and artistry to be an expression of her femininity.  My daughter Kristina was lucky enough to dine at one of Pic’s restaurants at Beau-Rivage Palace in Lausanne, Switzerland and she wrote an article about it with photos.  Go look at those photos and you will see that her food indeed looks very feminine and breath-taking.

I had to make something from the cookbook and my first choice uses two of my favorite ingredients: asparagus and mint.  The Green Asparagus with Mint Hollandaise Sauce tastes as good as it sounds.

Asparagus 3

I could eat this every week and never tire of it.  Next on my list to try is the Lemon Tart with Italian Meringue.  As Pic says, “Everyone needs a recipe for lemon tart.”

Get this book.  But first you can make the asparagus.

Green Asparagus with Mint Hollandaise Sauce
Author: 
Cuisine: French
 
Ingredients
  • The Asparagus:
  • 20 green asparagus spears
  • Splash of olive oil
  • 5 fluid ounces vegetable stock
  • 2 sprigs of fresh mint
  • The Hollandaise Sauce:
  • 3-1/2 ounces butter
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 2 Tablespoons asparagus-cooking liquid
  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • 1 Tablespoon finely chopped mint
  • Fine salt
  • Finishing off:
  • Splash of olive oil
  • Fleur de sel
  • Mint leaves
Instructions
  1. The Asparagus: Prepare the asparagus spears by bending the stems until they snap, then discarding the woody ends. Then, using a small knife, remove the "scales" on the remaining stems so they are smooth. Put a saucepan over a high heat, add the olive oil and saute the asparagus all over, without letting it color too much. Add the vegetable stock and the mint leaves. Cook for another 3-4 minutes (the asparagus should still be slightly crunchy). Drain over a bowl, reserving the cooking liquid, then chill the asparagus in the fridge. Remove the mint from the cooking liquid.
  2. The Hollandaise Sauce: Melt the butter over a gentle heat, then remove from the heat. Using a spoon, skim the foam from the top, then pour off the yellow clarified butter and discard the white milk solids that will have separated out. In a saucepan, whisk together the egg yolks, the 2 Tablespoons asparagus-cooking liquid and a pinch of salt. Place over the lowest heat possible and whisk rapidly for 3-4 minutes. As soon as the sabayon is good and foamy, remove from heat and gradually mix in the warm clarified butter. Finally, stir in the lemon juice and finely chopped mint. Check the seasoning.
  3. Finishing off and plating up: Heat oven to 300 degrees F. Put the asparagus in a baking dish, cover with damp kitchen paper and reheat for 2 minutes. Divide between 4 plates. Using a pastry brush, coat the asparagus spears with a little olive oil to make them glossy, then scatter over the fleur de sel and a few mint leaves. Serve immediately with the hollandaise sauce.

Asparagus 1

 

Check out Anne-Sophie Pic on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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8 Responses to Scook: The Complete Cookery Course

  1. June 8, 2016 at 5:53 am #

    It’s Kristina’s fault that I splurged and bought this book. Her pictures and descriptions of dining at Anne-Sophie Pic’s restaurant lead me astray. I haven’t tried any recipes yet. I’ve just enjoyed reading the book and drooling over the photos. The asparagus sounds like a good starting point.

    • June 8, 2016 at 11:59 am #

      Madonna, I knew you would have the book! It’s hard to pick just one recipe to start with. Go look at that lemon tart. I’m not sure I could make a meringue that perfect shape! It’s stunning. Kristina said it was literally the prettiest food she had ever seen anywhere in the world.

  2. June 10, 2016 at 7:51 am #

    Beautiful presentation, Debbie. So glad you started with the asparagus recipe! Love asparagus and a perfect recipe for summer. Will be making this soon and ordering this cookbook.

    • June 11, 2016 at 7:08 am #

      Thanks, Kim! I had some leftover sauce and used it for an Eggs Benedict and it was delicious!

      • June 11, 2016 at 8:45 am #

        Excellent! MarleJo had recently mentioned the ‘need for Eggs Benedict’ and I was wondering about this sauce. Thanks for blazing the trail!

        • June 14, 2016 at 12:13 pm #

          There are so many great Eggs Benedict recipes out there with variations on the Hollandaise, but I found this one to be good! Hope Marlejo likes it.

        • April 8, 2019 at 11:26 pm #

          When Anne-Sophie uses a siphon, in her recipes, to what kitchen tool is she referring.

          • April 9, 2019 at 12:15 am #

            Hi Cynthia- I loved that cookbook so much, but unfortunately it was lost in a flood. I wish I could look up in the book how she used the siphon in a particular recipe. A siphon is a handheld canister that is charged with pressurized gas. It’s used to make seltzer and whip cream but my guess is she may have used it to make foams, which were very popular with chefs for a time, but I haven’t seen them as much lately. Thank you for writing and making me remind myself to put that wonderful book back on my bookshelf.

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