Pesto Eggs

Introduction
The Internet went nuts for pesto eggs around the time of lockdown 2.0, when the cool kids of TikTok discovered it was a thing. It didn't matter if they were fried, boiled, coddled, scrambled, baked, or poached; eggs paired with pesto were, for a while, the coolest thing on the planet.

One of the most popular methods was to fry eggs in pesto rather than oil. We can't condone that. We make so much effort to preserve the fresh ingredients in our sauces that the thought of "frying" pesto to within an inch of its life makes us profoundly miserable.

For our take on the pesto-egg craze, we griddle some sourdough, fry some quail's eggs, pipe on little dollops of pesto, and serve with a twisted bacon garnish. Frying on the lowest possible heat enables us to create eggs that look so perfect they may as well be emojis.

Pro tip
If you're going to be cooking quail's eggs regularly, we'd recommend investing in a takoyaki pan (which is easily available online). This Japanese pan is designed to cook octopus balls, but the size and shape make it ideal for ensuring consistently well-cooked quail eggs, time after time.

Ingredients for one very decadent brunch

Method
You could just toast your sourdough slices, but to create the ultimate crunch, we recommend lacquering them with plenty of full-fat mayonnaise and griddling until golden brown.

Fry your eggs in a little of the oil. Season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper, and arrange on your toast.

Either dollop or neatly pipe some pesto on top. Your call.

While you're at it, you may as well serve it with another TikTok craze, twisted bacon. Simply slice a rasher into 4 or 5 thin strips, twist several times, and grill for 5-10 minutes, watching them like a hawk so they don't burn.

Twisting bacon rather than just eating it au naturel is completely and utterly pointless, but hey, this is the Instagram era, and it's all about the photo, yo.