Baked Asparagus Fries

I have a fun little recipe for you that I discovered the other day. I say discovered,  not invented, because I'm sure it's been done a dozen different ways before.

I saw a picture on my Instagram feed of zucchini fries the other day and thought, wow, I'm going to make those soon. I already had a zucchini in the refrigerator, but I'd been planning on making zucchini noodles and kind of had my heart set on that. Digging around the back of the fridge, I found a bundle of asparagus that I'd all but forgotten about. How about asparagus fries instead?

I cut off the woody ends of the asparagus, gave the tops a rinse, and patted them dry. I then set up two plastic containers - one with an egg and a splash of milk in it (beaten together well), the other with corn flake crumbs (you could use bread crumbs), plus a bit of salt, pepper, and parmesan seasoning.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and have a greased cookie sheet ready.

Dip an asparagus stalk in the egg mixture, then roll it around in the crumbs and place it on the cookie sheet. Do this for each one, making sure not to lay them too close to each other. You want them to stay crispy all around. I also gave them a sprinkling of chili powder just before they went in the oven.

Bake them in the oven for about 20 minutes, until they're softened but not mushy.

You can eat them on their own, but they're even better with a dip. I stirred up a mixture of mayonnaise, soy sauce, and a little bit of sugar. The asparagus fries were so good that we ate them all as an appetizer - they didn't even make it to our plates. The outside stayed really crispy, with just the right amount of coating (that didn't fall off!)

I'm thinking I'll have to keep this recipe handy for when we have guests over. It's so easy, but looks so very fancy (which is what I'm always aiming for).

Have you made these before? Or maybe you've tried other vegetables?