I was all set to write an amazing breakfast post for you this week — it's breakfast week at The Kitchn you know — and then I got the call from the producers of the Martha Stewart show asking me to come make a three-course meal from my book, Good Food to Share. It would be in front of a studio audience with Martha by my side. Gulp.
Humbled, honored, flattered, and just a teensy bit nervous, I thought it best to spend the next few nights making my meal and testing it out on various friends who could provide honest feedback and perform the occasional Martha stand-in. So I prepared the dishes several times, which means I have a fridge full of leftovers: the big fish, green beans with an almond pesto, and even a few stray steamed lemon cakes.
In other words, not exactly typical breakfast fare...
But a girl's gotta eat breakfast, especially on important days. So yesterday morning, up early for the taping, I made myself a show-day power breakfast with the leftover beans, cut short and topped with a poached egg. We all know leftovers taste better the morning after and they are almost without exception the ultimate egg vehicle, and that is how I arrived back to talking today about breakfast even though Martha has been the only thing on my mind for days.
Let it be said first that green beans are not in season at the moment. I know, I know. The good news is that pesto is super versatile and could be slathered on any vegetable you like. It makes a nice dip for radish dredging, can be diluted with more olive oil and a squirt of lemon for a pesto-y dressing on salad greens and would be the perfect cloak for those first of season sugar snap peas.
Now that I've tasted the beans with eggs, I'm going to make a double batch of the pesto next time. It was really the pesto that danced so nicely with the eggs. Stir it into a scramble, slather it on toast for a fried egg sandwich, or drizzle over your side of breakfast potatoes.
• Tune in tomorrow, Friday March 9, to see the segment on Martha Stewart Show.
You'll see me all lit up under the lights, with my hands dirty, stinking of fish and garlic, in my happiest place: the cooking place. How did I make it through? Probably powered by those beans and poached egg.
Green Beans with Almond Pesto
serves 6-8
Sea salt
1/2 pound haricots verts or slender green beans, trimmed
1 large clove garlic
1 cup lightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup blanched almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped
Have ready a large bowl of ice water. Bring a large saucepan three-fourths full of generously salted water to a boil over high heat. Drop in the beans all at once and cook for 3 minutes. Drain and immediately plunge the beans into ice water. Set aside.
In a food processor or blender, combine the garlic, parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and process until the parsley is finely chopped. With the machine running, add the olive oil in a slow steady stream and process until a smooth purée forms. Add the almonds and pulse until finely chopped and the pesto is a uniform coarse purée.
Drain the beans and pat dry. Put them in a large bowl, add the pesto, and toss to coat evenly. Arrange the beans on a serving platter or in a bowl and serve at room temperature.
Serve with a poached egg, if desired. See instructions here for poaching an egg:
• How to Poach an Egg: The Video
• How To Poach an Egg in the Microwave
• Perfectly Poached: Some Tips and Tricks for Poaching Eggs
• Buy the Book: Good Food to Share: Recipes for Entertaining with Family & Friends by Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan with photographs by Ray Kachatorian, $19.47 at Amazon.
(Images: Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan)
Recipe reprinted with permission from Weldon-Owen, a division of Bonnier.
Kart Serving Tray b...

Comments (22)
The first recipe makes my mouth water !! It seems really good.. I love pesto. I also tasted a spanish version, the red pesto. It is different and still very good. You can see it on my blog : www.snow-in-april.com
Is there a link for how to poach an egg?
Congratulations on the Martha episode! I'm all set to watch it on Friday.
taste is how you made it. cause you have great taste.
love this recipe and that you made it to martha. woo hoo.
pve
Congrats on making Martha!! How exciting. And how nice that you found the time to give us another delicious recipe even in the midst. We will all be cheering you on from our living rooms ;-).
Just ordered your book from Amazon; very excited for your appearance on Martha - WOW! I love the Kitchn; can't wait to make the pesto................wish I wasn't stuck at a desk in a bank right now (altho' super happy to have my job):-/
Just made this for lunch. It was soooo good! I used ordinary parsley that I had in the fridge, and added lemon juice to the pesto - I thought it was really missing. With 2 poached eggs, coarse sea salt and lots of pepper, hmmmmm! This will become a regular here. Thanks!
Congratulations on your Martha appearance and I hopeto catch it online. The recipe looks fabulous and is right up my alley.
Congrats on the show!
I had a something like this at a Mexican restaurant once: fluffy scrambled eggs with fresh green beans, a good sprinkle of herbs, a tiny sprinkle of queso fresco, and salsa for dipping. It was new to me, but green beans and eggs are surprisingly good partners.
@JEN_G The poached egg video is link - just click.
cheers!
Ah.Maz.Ing. Great idea-I'm pinning it now!!!
This recipe sounds delightful. I pretty much anything with poached eggs. I like them over asparagus but never thought of green beans and the idea of using the almond pesto makes me drool. Thanks for sharing and good luck on the show. Wish I could watch but I'll be at work. Maybe a video will follow so we can all enjoy it?
Congratulations on the Martha show - HOW exciting! I would have done exactly the same, practising every night until people couldn't eat any more of that dish :-) This looks absolutely gorgeous and, although slightly unusual, would be delicious for breakfast. Yum.
I've never tried making pesto with parsley. I would probably add a bit of lemon juice, too.
This post reminded me of one of my favorite breakfasts of all time- fried (or poached) eggs over roasted zucchini! So much yum. It's amazing how delicious it is to dip the zucchini pieces into the oozing yolk.
I thawed out some summer pesto and have been enjoying it by the spoonful but I never thought of putting it on a poached egg. Yum. Breakfast tomorrow! (I already had my oatmeal today).
You rocked on Martha Stewart! Congrats!!!
I was channel surfing and caught you on Martha! I stopped when I saw parsley pesto on green beans and remembered you were going to be on. And now I have a plan for our vegan dinner party on Sunday - this included!
@DaleyDen Thank you!!! It was a lot of fun.
@J.G.Boston thanks so much. Glad you stumbled upon it!
Any chance of seeing a rerun? I've been googling and haven't found anything. Can you post the the episode?
@Merilynch we'll post it when it's live - not quite yet!