Pesto-powered breakfast: Elevating eggs with Italian flair
I've realized there's no better breakfast than one with eggs as the primary ingredient. I don’t feel hungry for hours, and sweets don’t tempt me. There are countless ideas for this meal, so it never gets dull. My latest discovery is the combination of eggs with a popular Italian sauce.
For my morning meals, I usually opt for soft-boiled eggs. Sometimes, I treat myself to classic scrambled eggs, and when I have more time, aromatic shakshuka appears on the table. Very rarely do I eat fried eggs. However, I decided to change that.
An idea for a nutritious breakfast
Italians are proud of their famous pesto sauce, which goes with almost everything. I tried it with a fried egg, and it was a very successful combination. Pesto is based on basil, which pairs wonderfully with the delicate flavour of the egg. When you add crunchy toast, the composition is complete. It's a delicious and nutritious breakfast.
What do fried eggs contain?
A meal featuring a fried egg provides protein, vitamins A, D, E, and K, and those in the B group, as well as minerals like iron, zinc, selenium, and phosphorus. This helps boost immunity. Another advantage of such breakfasts is their positive impact on memory and concentration, thanks to the choline found in eggs. It's beneficial to use olive oil for frying eggs, as it's also added to pesto, a key Mediterranean diet element. The monounsaturated fatty acids in olive oil promote heart health by lowering bad cholesterol.
The best fried eggs
How do you prepare perfect fried eggs? Pour about a tablespoon of olive oil into the bottom of a nonstick pan. Heat it gently so it doesn't get too hot, then crack the eggs in. When the white is set and the yolk remains runny, the fried eggs are ready. Carefully remove them from the pan with a spatula to avoid breaking the yolks.
The perfect combination for a morning meal
However, preparing this breakfast should begin with the pesto sauce unless you already have it in the fridge. It can be stored in a sealed container for a week. The recipe for the sauce is simple: blend fresh basil, pine nuts, Parmesan or Pecorino cheese, garlic, and olive oil.
Toast with pesto and fried egg
Ingredients for pesto:
- 250 ml fresh basil
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 5 ml lemon juice
- 45 ml olive oil
- 30 ml pine nuts, almond flakes, or other nuts
- freshly ground pepper and salt to taste
- 45 ml grated Parmesan
Preparation method:
- Blend all ingredients. The mixture doesn't have to be perfectly smooth.
Ingredients for toast:
- eggs, one per person
- a slice of bread or roll, one per person
- olive oil for frying
- salt, pepper, and paprika to taste
- chives or parsley for serving
Preparation method:
- Prepare toast in a pan or toaster to make it crispy. You can drizzle it with olive oil.
- Place a portion of prepared pesto on the pan, about 30 ml per egg.
- Create a well in the centre of each portion of pesto and crack in 1 egg. Cook until the white is set, but the yolk is still runny.
- Place the eggs on grilled slices of bread, adding the remaining pesto from the pan.
- You can also spread the toast with pesto without heating it, then place the fried eggs on top.
