Soft-Scrambled Eggs with Pesto & Bacon

Soft-scrambled eggs served with a walnut & basil pesto might sound like a

somewhat bizarre combination, but it works wonderfully well.

Smoky, crispy bacon is served alongside the fragrant pesto and the creamy eggs.

Finally, the dish is served with some toasted and buttered baguette pieces that are

soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. The toasted bread serves as the ideal

vessel for the eggs & bacon, and gives each bite a nice bit of added textural crunch.

Ingredients

For the Basil Pesto:

¼ cup walnuts roughly chopped
1 garlic clove roughly chopped
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
50 large basil leaves roughly chopped
3 oz parmesan cheese freshly-grated
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste

For the Remaining Dish Components:

4 Tbsp salted butter (softened) for the baguette slices
½ of a baguette loaf cut into ¼” slices and buttered
2 Tbsp salted butter for the eggs
4 large eggs
1 Tbsp whole milk
Kosher salt & freshly-ground black pepper to taste
8 strips of bacon cooked until barely crispy
2 Tbsp fresh chives very finely sliced, as garnish

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400F.
Add the walnuts and garlic to a food processer, and pulse until they are broken down into tiny pieces.
*You can also use a mortar and pestle to make your pesto if you prefer a different texture.
Add the olive oil and basil leaves to the mixture, and pulse until they are finely chopped.
Add the lemon zest and lemon juice, and continue pulsing in the food processor until you arrive at your desired consistency.
Add the grated parmesan cheese, and mix until combined.
Taste, and season the pesto with Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper.
*If you want your pesto to have a looser consistency, add some more olive oil.
When you are satisfied with the taste and texture of the pesto mixture, set it aside for when you are ready to serve.
For the baguette slices, cut the half baguette into ¼” slices and butter each side of each slice lightly.
Place the cut slices on a sheet pan layered with parchment paper.
Bake the baguette slices at 400F for roughly 5 minutes, or until the slices are lightly crispy but not too hard.
When the baguette slices are lightly toasted, remove them from the oven and set them aside.
For the soft-scrambled eggs, place a nonstick saute pan on the stove over medium heat, and add the butter to the pan.
Wait for about 60 seconds to melt the butter, and reduce the heat to low.
When the butter has melted, crack the eggs into a mixing bowl and then add whole milk to it. Whisk until fully combined.
Add the eggs to the pan, and cook on low heat for roughly 6-8 minutes, stirring every few minutes to allow small curds to form.
When the eggs are just barely cooked through, remove the pan from the stove, and set the eggs a side.
After making basil pesto and scrambled eggs, it’s time to assemble everything.
Serve plates with slices of the toasted baguette, with a bit of cooked bacon, soft- scrambled eggs, and some basil pesto.
Garnish with a small sprinkling of fresh chives, and serve immediately.

Notes

Any type of scrambled egg is going to taste the best when it’s just finished cooking
and eaten immediately.

If you make a bunch of extra pesto, any extras you have will keep great if you store
them in your freezer in an airtight container. Simply defrost in your fridge a day or
two in advance of using.