Pickled Asparagus for the May Raw/Cold Pack Challenge

I used Marissa's Pickled Asparagus recipe almost to a T, except I was unable to get Penzey's pickling mix which leads me to believe that I will have a much sweeter pickle than I intended. Marissa's recipe can be found HERE but I will write it out  my method below. One thing I regret not reading before I stumbled through the kitchen vying for available counter space was the recommendation to save the blanching water. Drained and left to cool, it provides a nutrient rich (and sustainable) water to water the house plants with! Thanks for the tip Marissa - no blanching water will ever go down the sink in this household again!

This was nice to do on a rainy Mother's Day after a wonderful Eggs Benedict breakfast from SP. Anticipating the rain, we got 90% of the garden in yesterday which is a tremendous feat for Maine and our track record. I'm still itching to get out there and plant the 160 onions that are just waiting patiently on the porch. 

Ingredients
2 pounds asparagus, trimmed to fit your pint jars and blanched in boiling water for approximately 10 seconds

3 cups vinegar (half apple cider vinegar, half white vinegar)
3 cups water
2 tablespoons kosher salt
4 tablespoons pickling spice
1 tablespoon red chili flakes
4 garlic cloves, peeled
4 slices of lemon
4 tall (12 oz)  pint jars

Process
1. In a hot water bath, sterilize your jars.
2. Put a  lemon slice in the bottom of each jar and pack the trimmed and blanched asparagus into the jars.

3.  Tuck a garlic clove down into the asparagus spears.

4. Bring the vinegar, water and spices to a boil. Pour into jars on top of asparagus, leaving at least 1/2 inch of head space.

5. Affix lids and rings on the jars and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes (you can skip this step if you plan on just putting your pickles in the fridge).

6. Wait at least 24 hours before eating, to give the asparagus spears a chance to get sufficiently pickley.

Egg's benedict

I've been debating how to write this recipe out. I've decided, I am going to leave it as a photo essay to one of my favorite breakfast or brunch options ever. It is also what SP makes me for every Mother's Day. For instructions, he always uses the Joy of Cooking. So all you need is a good cookbook, and these pictures as a way of doing it! It is time consuming and laborious, but well worth your time.

Ingredients
eggs
sliced tomatoes (or bacon)
butter
vinegar
and if you don't want to make it yourself, some premade or packaged Hollandaise sauce (My ancestors just rolled over in their graves at the very mention of such a thing.)

Process
1. While you bring a large pot of water to a boil, prepare your Hollandaise sauce according to directions over a double boiler. Look closely, SP invented his own by putting a large glass bowl over a sauce pan of boiling water.




























































































































2. Very carefully breaking your egg into a spatula, poach your eggs in lightly rolling boiling water doused with a little vinegar.


































3. Toast some English muffins.

4. Plate the muffins, with sliced tomato (or if you insist bacon) and cover with the poached egg.






























5. Whisk your Hollandaise again.



























6. Liberally coat in Hollandaise.


























7. Re-coat if desired. Serve with extra Hollandaise on the side.



























I don't think I mentioned this. I love Hollandaise. I like my Eggs Benedict bathing in it. Come to think of it, I think I'd like a lot of things bathed in Hollandaise.

Happy Mothers Day!

I know - it's a blurry picture of a picture again.
But it is HiHo, holding me on her hip, standing next to my sister, while we were in the top of the lighthouse in Stonington. It is a special very meaningful picture to me.
I miss you HiHo.
Happy Mother's Day.