Canning Asparagus

Late April and May is the time to can green or white asparagus. See Canning Green or White Asparagus. It is very nice served with grilled or broiled salmon and a hollandaise or Bearnaise sauce.

We eat a ton of asparagus when it is in season. Canned asparagus can be served as a starter with a red wine and shallot vinaigrette. Fresh asparagus is nice roasted and served with a horseradish dip as an hors d’oeuvre – see roasted asparagus. You may also serve roasted asparagus as a starter with a mustard vinaigrette topping it with roasted red bell peppers and/or caramelized onions or shallots.

To make asparagus soup with fresh asparagus, sauté asparagus cut into 1/2 inch pieces in olive oil until tender, add chicken stock, salt and pepper to taste, and then simmer for 30 minutes. To augment the color of the soup, you may add 1/4 – 1/2 cup of cream for each quart of soup before serving. If using canned asparagus do not sauté and add the canning liquid to the chicken stock.

An asparagus quiche may be made using canned asparagus by cutting the asparagus into 1/2 inch pieces and then substituting the canned asparagus for the roasted in our asparagus quiche recipe. You may do the same for an basic omelet.