(cheerful music)
- Hi, I'm Jerry James Stone
and in today's video I'm gonna show you how to make
delicious Asparagus Parmesan Fries.
This is a lovely sort of side dish or appetizer,
however you wanna do it, it's really easy to make
and it's just a fun way to celebrate asparagus.
I think you're gonna like it, but let me show you how.
(cheerful music)
So the first thing we need to do for making these fries,
is we need to trim up our asparagus.
Now, I'm gonna kind of go over this a little bit,
you've probably been told that you can just pick up
the asparagus and bend it from the ends.
The problem with that method is,
you waste a lot of asparagus.
So, let's just talk about the anatomy
of asparagus for a second.
When you buy it from the store,
you'll see kind of towards the bottom part,
it even feels a little woody,
like compared to the rest of the part of the asparagus,
in I guess this kind of purplish-white area.
You just need to trim that off,
it's actually best just to do it with a knife.
So what I try to do is just line up
the asparagus as best as I can,
'cause even though I probably waste a little bit
doing this method, you waste a whole lot less.
And then I just take the knife and cut it off.
(asparagus crunches)
Those out of the way.
Oops.
(asparagus crunches) And finish it off.
If you're left with anything that still has the white part
after you do that, just trim it off,
but you'll actually waste a lot less asparagus that way.
So before we batter the asparagus,
we're actually gonna just take a baking sheet
and we're gonna spray it with a thin layer of cooking spray,
because we're gonna be taking asparagus
that's been rolled in flour, dipped in egg
and then crusted with like, breadcrumbs and cheese,
so we just really don't want it to stick to the baking pan.
(spray hisses)
Just go ahead and put a light layer on there.
So the first thing we're gonna do is
we're actually gonna roll the asparagus
in just regular flour.
Just get it as coated as you possibly can.
So after you prepare the asparagus,
you don't wanna make sure it's too dry,
you want it to be a little bit wet
just so actually the flour will stick to it.
If it's not wet enough, just take a damp paper towel
and roll it around in that real quick.
Okay, so we covered the asparagus in flour.
The next step is to cover it in egg.
I'm gonna take a couple eggs, whisk them
so they're completely scrambled
and then just dredge the asparagus through that.
And dip it in there, and then we're gonna dip
it into the panko crumb and cheese mixture.
So we're gonna make our crust, essentially.
So we're gonna start off with some panko breadcrumbs,
I like those 'cause they're a little crunchier,
you know, a little thicker than the traditional,
like Italian style breadcrumbs,
but you can use whatever you have.
Then we're gonna mix in some grated Parmesan cheese.
Now it's really important,
this is very, very important actually,
I recommend grating your own for this,
because if you buy the pre-grated stuff
a lot of times that has like a cornstarch film on it
to prevent it from sticking together,
which makes it not melt as nicely.
I'll just mix that together.
If you wanna add in salt and pepper,
now's the time to do it, I don't think
this recipe needs it because you have
the Parmesan cheese which has a lot of flavor,
but if you like your food salty,
now's the perfect time to add it in.
Just add a bit in, give it a taste
and see if you like it.
Dip the asparagus in the egg, and then roll it
in the breadcrumb and Parmesan mixture,
and then place it on the baking sheet.
And just do that for all the asparagus.
While you're doing this, your fingers
are gonna get really disgusting,
'cause it's gonna have flour and egg
and breadcrumbs stuck to them the whole time.
It drives me absolutely crazy.
So when you're placing them on the baking sheet
the part that's really important is
that you do a single layer.
They can be fairly tight on the sheet next to each other,
you just don't wanna stack them at all.
Just keep putting them on
and then once they're all placed on the sheet,
we're gonna bake 'em in the oven at 425 degrees
for about 10 minutes, just till they're nice
and crispy and golden brown.
Oh, and by the way, so asparagus,
as you probably know, it has a very short season
and it's very, very expensive.
It's not cheap by any means.
So be sure to check out my video
on how to store it properly,
and it'll last in the refrigerator for weeks.
It's easy and it keeps it fresh.
So as I said, you just wanna bake this
at 425 degrees for about 10 to 12 minutes
until they're nice and golden brown.
Okay, so, just got out of the oven.
Just gonna go ahead and take,
oh it's so nice and crunchy, like I can just hear it
as I scrape it off the baking sheet,
I think you guys are really gonna like this.
By the way, if you like to cook like I do,
I release new videos every single week
with like cooking hacks to fun recipes,
everything that's vegan and vegetarian,
so be sure to subscribe.
If there's something that you wanna see,
drop a comment below.
And if you like this video or this recipe,
gimme a thumbs-up.
Oh, smells so good, it's like,
you can just smell like crunchy Parmesan cheese.
(laughs)
Okay, got that last little bit on there.
I'll let the pan cool and I eat the little bits off the top.
Wonder if it's too hot to try.
Nope, and it's really good.
Alright, I'll see you guys next time.
(cheerful music)