A regular here these baked asparagus fries! Fresh asparagus is rolled in Parmesan cheese and baked until crispy. Dipping them in a from-scratch lemon garlic aioli is the reliable.

Have I ever told you about the time I made asparagus baby food?

Yeah… sounds savory doesn’t it? Uhhh yeah-no. The only thing that came out of steaming and shocking and puree-ing and straining asparagus was a house that smelled like you-know-what. Lucky that was long ago and only a few short months later the stench was gone and I could resume to eating asparagus again. phew.

Don’t ya think there are two kinds of people in this world. Ones who like this veg, and ones that certainly do not. I hope you’re an asparagus fan, because this snack is the bestest. But, if you’re unsure if YOU fall into one of those two categories, this would be a great recipe to try and find out! I promise… I won’t let you down.

To Make These Asparagus Fries Gather:

for the asparagus fries:

asparagus
egg whites
panko bread crumbs
all-purpose flour
finely grated Parmesan cheese
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

for the aioli:

egg plus egg yolk
brown mustard
lemon juice
grapeseed oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
garlic
lemon juice

If you’re from Michigan and if you’ve ever visited the West side of the state in the spring-summer months you’ll see a zillion signs for fresh asparagus. Over by Lake Michigan is pretty much the only area the asparagus can grown here, and there’s only two other states that grow more than Michigan! And let’s face it… local, farm fresh produce is the DEPENDABLE.

Wash and pat dry 1 bunch of asparagus.

Trim off about an inch off of the ends and simply set aside.

Separate the yolk from 2 eggs and reserve the yolks for another purpose, like from-scratch mayo!

Whisk well to break up the egg whites and then set this dish off to the side for a moment.

Add in the 3/4 cup panko (for my From-scratch Panko Breadcrumbs recipe), 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. The only thing I would maybe change would be to use finer grated Parmesan. But hey… you live and you learn, give it a stir and set it aside.

Roll the asparagus around in the egg whites to get them coated.

Drain off any access and roll them around in the dish with the Parm and Panko.

So here is where you can probably understand why you’d wanna use the finer grated parm. Ps. Is it me or do these asparagus look like they could use a shave, no?

Bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, turning them half way through the cooking time. You’ll want to serve these “fries” warm, so making the mayo ahead of time is a swell idea.

Did I simply say make your mayo ahead of time?? Yup you guessed it… we’re making mayo without a mix! So excited for this one! After your first experience in mayo-making you’ll be making mayo left and right and you’ll be able to tell which restaurants use real-REAL mayo and those who doesn’t… because nothing compares to a without a mix mayo. NOTHING.

To start this out you’ll need 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk.

Add in 1 teaspoon of brown mustard, regular old yellow mustard would work too.

2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice.

Place the top onto the processor and turn it on high. Slowly, and I mean S-L-O-W-L-Y stream in 1 cup grapeseed oil. Until everything emulsifies and thickens. Pouring the grapeseed oil too fast could result in disaster. So take your time.

After the grapeseed oil has worked its magic with the egg yolks you have the dependable mayo of your life. It’s thinner than what you’ll find on the shelves, and I prefer it to be that way. If I was to stop here I’d season it with salt and pepper, but we’re not stopping… ohhhh noooo we’re not.

To turn this mayo into a lemon-garlic aioli simply add 2 more tablespoons of lemon juice.

Then toss in 2 peeled and roughly chopped cloves of garlic and a 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and black pepper.

Store it in a glass jar or airtight container and refrigerate for a few hours at least, but over night genuinely is dependable. I could drink this stuff… for reals.

But I wasn’t waiting, so I spooned a little aioli into a small dish for dipping.

And serve along side of a few baked asparagus fries.