Julie Laing's Quick-Pickled Spring Asparagus -- a guest and a #bookgiveaway

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  As some of you know, I live in rural NW Montana. When a weekly newspaper in the valley started running a food column written by a local food blogger and cookbook author, I had to meet her! I emailed, we met for lunch -- our valley is also home to one of the best little breakfast and lunch joints I've ever been in -- and hit it off. So I was delighted to discover that she's a mystery reader as well as an avid gardener and recipe hound. And it didn't take much hounding to get her to join us as a guest.

Talk to us in the comments for a chance to win a signed copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling, by Julie Laing.

JULIE LAING: I’m thrilled to be a guest of Mystery Lover’s Kitchen. As a reader, I’m a fellow mystery lover. As a writer, all my work starts in the kitchen, including for my Twice as Tasty food blog, my weekly column in The Flathead Beacon, and my cookbook, The Complete Guide to Pickling, and its companion digital collection, The Pickled Picnic.

When Leslie Budewitz invited me to share a recipe from The Complete Guide to Pickling (and give away a signed copy!), she mentioned her love of pickled asparagus. Since we’re just harvesting the first crop in my area, I couldn’t resist sharing my quick-pickled Spring Asparagus recipe. It’s one of the many ways I pickle asparagus, and my progression goes like this: The first harvest becomes Spring Asparagus with spring garlic. Once this season’s garlic scapes appear, the next rounds become Refrigerated Asparagus Spears, which can be canned if you have a bumper crop. Finally, as asparagus production slows, the first bulb onions are big enough to use in fermented jars.

Each version is incredibly delicious, and thanks to a presentation I gave for Free the Seeds earlier this year, demo videos of the different processes are available on YouTube. All three pickled asparagus recipes are in The Complete Guide to Pickling—among its 125 recipes for quick, refrigerator, canned, and fermented pickles; salsas and chutneys; hot sauces; and more. I give ideas for using these pickles and their brines, such as Potato and Pickled Asparagus Salad, in The Pickled Picnic.

Quick-Pickled Spring Asparagus

Makes about 4 cups

Prep time: 10 minutes, plus 5 minutes infusing time

Curing time: 1 to 2 hours

As soon as my garlic bulbs and early asparagus start to grow, out comes this recipe. Spring garlic is immature and harvested when it looks like a green onion; you can often find it in farmers’ markets in early spring, and it’s a great way to use clumps of garlic you might have missed in your fall harvest when they start to sprout again. Homegrown young onions or Egyptian walking onions can replace scallions.

1-1/2 cups white wine vinegar (5% acidity)

1-1/2 cups water

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon Morton pickling salt

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds

Pinch chili flakes

20 medium asparagus spears (1 pound)

2 whole spring garlic stalks, or 1 garlic clove, minced

2 whole scallions

 In a medium saucepan, bring the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt. Remove the pan from the heat and add the peppercorns, mustard seeds, and chili flakes; let infuse for 5 minutes.

Cut the ends of the asparagus off and cut the spring garlic and scallions to a similar length. In a clean, shallow container with a lid, arrange them evenly. Pour the brine over the vegetables, cover the container, and let sit for 1 to 2 hours before serving.

For longer storage, remove the garlic and scallions and strain the brine, collecting it in a large measuring cup. Pack the asparagus into two clean, tall 24-ounce jars and pour the brine over the spears, ensuring they are submerged. Screw on a nonreactive lid and store in the refrigerator, where the pickles will keep for months.

Excerpt from The Complete Guide to Pickling, by Julie Laing, published by Rockridge Press. Copyright © 2020 by Callisto Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

 As you can see, quick-picked asparagus is so easy: infuse brine, pour over asparagus, briefly wait, and enjoy. As I mentioned earlier, I use the spears in Potato and Pickled Asparagus Salad; I also slice them onto grilled sourdough pizza, toss them with arugula or couscous, roll them into sushi, and drop them into a grilled tomato Bloody Mary—when I’m not crunching on them straight from the container. 

Readers, do you love pickled asparagus like we do? Other favorite vegetables -- or fruits -- you like to pickle? Favorite recipes that use pickled things? Or do you prefer to cultivate friends who do the pickling and bring you a jar or two? One lucky reader will win a signed copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling -- be sure to leave your email address. (US addresses only; winner will be chosen Wed, May 25.)    

The Complete Guide to Pickling is available wherever books are sold. The companion collection, The Pickled Picnic, is available exclusively through TwiceasTasty.com.

Julie Laing has been a writer and editor for more than 25 years. She is the author of The Complete Guide to Pickling (Rockridge Press, 2020), The Pickled Picnic (Twice As Tasty, 2020), and the weekly Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, named after her food blog at TwiceAsTasty.com. Her writing has also appeared online for publications including The Spruce Eats, Clean Plates, Fifth Season, and Greatist.

Julie lives in northwest Montana, where she and her husband, George, fill every spare space in their 500-square-foot cabin with homegrown and home-preserved food. When they’re not at home, Julie and George are most likely sailing aboard the Blue Mule.

Photos credits:

Ingredient and step-by-step photos by Andrea Getts.

Author photo by Brenda Ahearn Photography (LAB: Brenda took my author photo, too! We love her!)