Spring Breakfast Spaghetti

Serves 4

Pasta makes a tasty breakfast or brunch on the weekends, or even on weekdays if you have a spare 10 minutes to make it in the morning. You can use peas, broad beans, snow peas or sugar snaps instead of the asparagus. I called this breakfast spaghetti because it’s got the main suspects you’d expect to have for weekend brekkie — bacon, eggs and toast!

Photo: Nadia Lim

Ingredients

• 250g dried spaghetti
• 1–2 bunches asparagus, chopped
• 3 slices sourdough bread, roughly chopped
• 1 bunch Italian parsley, chopped
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 4 rashers bacon, chopped
• 1½ tablespoons pinenuts
• juice of ½ a lemon
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 eggs

Method

Cook spaghetti in plenty of salted boiling water until al dente, about 10 minutes.

With a few minutes of cooking time left, cook asparagus in the boiling pasta water (with the pasta). Drain spaghetti and asparagus, reserving 2 tablespoons of pasta water.

Put bread chunks, parsley and lemon zest in a blender or food processor and blitz to a rough crumb.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frypan and add bacon. Fry for 3–4 minutes, then add the crumb and pinenuts. Fry for 4–5 minutes or until breadcrumbs and pinenuts are toasted. Season well with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Put pan back on heat and add drained spaghetti, asparagus, reserved pasta water, remaining olive oil and lemon juice, and toss together to warm everything through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Bring a medium-sized saucepan of water to a gentle boil, reduce to a simmer and carefully crack in eggs. Poach for 1–2 minutes until whites are just set, but yolk is still runny.

Divide spaghetti and asparagus between bowls and top with a poached egg. Sprinkle over the bacon crumb mixture. Serve immediately.