For a quick dinner nothing beats the one-two, carb-protein punch of taters and eggs. Sure you can quickly fry up eggs and spuds. But in almost as little time, you can put together these Baked Eggs and Potatoes with Cilantro and Pumpkin Seed Pesto.
Alright, if you make the pesto fresh, prep time expands slightly. But once made, the pesto lasts for weeks in the fridge and months in the freezer: scoop out what you need and store the rest to toss with pasta or spread on bruschetta.
If you’re really pressed, of course you can buy store-bought pesto.
But if you like cilantro, please try this recipe. The soapy herb is delicious pounded into paste with rich, nutty pumpkin seeds and Parmesan.
Once the buy-or-make pesto issue is decided, this recipe is totally straightforward. Thinly slice and fry potatoes and toss the spuds with a few spoons of pesto. At this point you can transfer the potatoes to a nice baking dish—say if you want it to go from oven to table for a company brunch or lunch.
Or if it’s just family, you can cook the potatoes in an iron frying pan and crack the eggs right on top. In either case, push aside the potatoes to make little nests. Now crack an egg into each nest. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, slide the pan into the oven and bake until whites are just set.
This dish is wonderful with a watercress salad and toasted ciabatta slathered with sweet butter and apricot preserves.
Baked Eggs and Potatoes with Cilantro and Pumpkin Seed Pesto
3/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
1 cup packed cilantro leaves, washed well and dried
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup olive oil plus extra for frying potatoes
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
3 large or 6 small potatoes, scrubbed
6 eggs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Pour pumpkin seeds onto a cookie sheet, centering them on the sheet in a single layer. Bake seeds for 8-10 minutes until lightly toasted. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.
- In a food processor or blender, grind pumpkin seeds, cilantro and garlic until pasty.
- With processor motor running, pour olive oil in a slow stream into paste. You may have to stop the motor to scrape down the bowl’s sides.
- Dump Parmesan cheese and a grinding of black pepper into pesto and pulse until blended.
- In the meantime, thinly slice the potatoes—if they are thin-skinned, no need to peel.
- Pour a tablespoon or two of olive oil into a frying pan set over medium-high flame. When oil is shimmering and fragrant, add potatoes as well as salt and pepper to taste. Fry, stirring and adjusting flame, until potatoes are golden and just cooked through.
- If using a serving pan, transfer potatoes to pan. If not, keep potatoes in pan. Toss with 6 tablespoons—or more, to taste—of pesto.
- With a spoon, push potatoes aside to create little hollows. Crack an egg into each hollow and sprinkle with salt and a grinding of pepper.
- Slide pan into the oven and bake for 14-16 minutes or until whites are just set.
Serve immediately.
Serves 6.
