“How Freeze Asparagus?” as told by Asparagus (and Asparagus Fried Egg Sammich)

Last week my assistants and I bought a good amount (10 pounds) of asparagus from a local asparagus grower .  We also loaded up on other asparagus products (tea, salsa, tortilla chips, asparagus powder, etc.).  Initially the plan was to can the asparagus but after quite a bit of reading—we started with Putting Food By and worked our way through the internet afterwards—we decided it would be best just to freeze it.  We considered pickling but remembered that we don’t really seem to like pickles that much and tend to not eat them when we do pickle things!  Don’t let that stop you from pickling them, and if you decide to here’s a good set of instructions that I intend to use the day I change my mind.  Anyways, here’s what Madame and I did, after listening to the asparagus:

(After the asparagus has frozen on the baking sheets place it in freezer bags, the pre-freeze on the sheets helps keep the wet veggies from sticking together in one big lump in the bags).

Finally with some of the asparagus we didn’t freeze we had some simple asparagus and fried egg sandwiches!  They were very good and easy to make.  The sunny side up eggs gave a wonderful creaminess to the sandwich, almost like a hollandaise sauce, but without all the work and absurd amounts of butter needed to make that amazing sauce.

Asparagus and Fried Egg Sammich

Inspired by Well Preserved

Ingredients:

• 4 slices of lightly toasted bread (we used the flax walnut raisin from Golden Hearth )
• 4 eggs, fried sunny side up, or to your liking
• 8-10 asparagus stalks
• Salt and pepper

Steam the asparagus until just tender.  Meanwhile fry the eggs (one or two at a time).  To get a nice runny yoke put a lid over the pan and don’t flip the egg.  Remove each egg when the white has completely solidified.  Place egg on top of the bread.  Briefly fry the steamed asparagus with a small amount of oil or butter over high heat (about 2-3 minutes).  Top the egg with 2-3 stalks of asparagus, salt and pepper and serve.

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