Give Your Breakfast Egg Scramble An Italian Twist And Add Pasta

Soft and fluffy scrambled eggs are a breakfast staple, but pasta? Not so much. And yet, there's no good reason not to pair these two together in your morning meal. Scrambled eggs provide plenty of protein, and they're often paired with a carb such as toast or potatoes. When you go with pasta instead, you're simply using this new ingredient as the carb factor, and giving your breakfast an Italian twist in the process.

The type of pasta you choose all depends on what kind of breakfast you're looking for. If you want the pasta to sit in the background as more of a base for your eggs, go with a smaller variety like orzo, ditalini, or macaroni. In this case, your dish will end up more like a scoopable bowl, and it's easy to incorporate mix-ins in a similar way. Otherwise, if you really want to feel like you're eating pasta for breakfast, go with something a little more substantial such as spaghetti, linguine, bucatini, or your favorite short noodle. Either way, the added ingredient will bulk up your meal and leave the door open for further enhancing the Italian factor.

To make a pasta and scrambled egg dish come together seamlessly, you'll want to cook each element separately, and combine them together at the end of the process. First boil and drain your pasta how you normally would. Then scramble your eggs with any mix-ins, and toss them with your pasta right before you eat. As an alternative, you can cook your pasta separately, then pour it into the skillet with your raw, beaten eggs and additional ingredients, and let everything set together.

Before you start cooking, consider which additions will amp up the Italian flavors in your breakfast. Go for diced, cooked Italian meats including pancetta, soppressata, salami, and mortadella (the Italian cultural phenomenon), or top your plate with slices of crispy, pan-fried prosciutto. When it comes to cheese, chunks of mozzarella work (and melt) beautifully here, but you can also deploy a little ricotta or mascarpone, or finish off your pasta scramble with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. If you want, you can even make a pizza-inspired dish with chopped pepperoni, mozzarella, and your favorite toppings like bell peppers or mushrooms. Another tasty direction you can go in is to chop up some broccolini, throw in some pitted olives, or incorporate some cut up fennel. Stir in a spoonful of bright and fresh pesto (either red or green) for a little herby goodness.