Deja Vu - Times Two!

While I can't recall ever experiencing an episode of deja vu, were I prone today would have had me tripping on the feeling time after time.  Like last Saturday the order of the day was to pickle the asparagus we picked up at the market, only this time there were twenty-four pounds instead of twelve, plus the leftovers from Saturday's cancelled appetizer. 

With a job like that ahead, a solid breakfast was required, and I whipped up an asparagus, prosciutto, and green onion fritatta with olive-cilantro bread and the strawberries from the night before.  It's worth mentioning the source of our prosciutto at this point.  We get ours from the Masellis Supermarket on the Danforth.  It's a family run shop, and they make their own.  It has recently been written up in several places as the best prosciutto in Toronto, and we would have to agree.

After breakfast was over one of Suzy's friends, Jen, stopped by with her two daughters, and they headed into the back with Aija to play, and I set down to work.  Things went very much as described in Asparagus Anyone?, only this time there was almost twice as much asparagus.  It made fifteen jars of pickled asparagus, six quarts of cream of asparagus soup, and an awful lot of asparagus stock.  That said, there were a couple of small variations and incidents and variations worth mentioning.

First up, I had planned for twelve jars of spicy spicy pickled asparagus by adding a third of a seeded jalapeno pepper to each jar.  I was also using 750 ml jars so I could have longer spears, and differentiate the spicy and non-spicy jars easily.  Things went relatively smoothly except the jars took more asparagus than expected, and one jar chose to crack when I started to pack it, the first I can ever remember doing so.  Unfazed I switched gears and packed a fourth quart jar instead, as I had one on hand.

Revisiting the asparagus soup recipe also proved valuable, as I realized on review that I had made two small typos in transcribing the recipe - it cooks for ten minutes, not twenty, and it should have been tablespoons, not teaspoons of fresh tarragon.  I am correcting the recipe now.

So, all in all a very productive day despite having to hand wash everything, as it appears the dishwasher needs professional help.  I'm also starting to build up a bit of a backlog of recipes to post.  Stay tuned in and I'll get another out tomorrow, and more later in the week!