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Consider this: the best baked eggs don’t ever hit the oven. When testing these recipes, realizing that using a cover produces a humid atmosphere that gently cooks the eggs, resulting in perfectly cooked delicately prepared egg with a tender white plus liquid yolk. The harsh, arid temperature from baking is much more aggressive versus moist heat, often leading making dishes dry and overcook the yolk. I’ve given you two sauces as inspiration, though feel free to experiment. One is a super-simple turmeric coconut curry, and the second offers a merguez ragu reimagines traditional spicy eggs, or simply put, eggs baked in spicy tomato sauce.

Golden Coconut Sauce Steamed Eggs (pictured above)

Prep A quick 10 minutes
Cook 55 min
Serves Two people

Extra virgin oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
Fine sea salt
Two garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
10g fresh ginger, minced ginger
Golden spice
Toasted cumin
Aromatic leaves
200ml coconut milk
400g tin chickpeas
Basil leaves, and additional for topping
4 eggs
2 green finger chillies, thinly cut, for serving

Heat a cast-iron pan on a medium-high heat. Add a shot of olive oil, incorporate onions with some salt, fry until softened. Incorporate aromatics and spices, allow to cook, mixing now and then for a few minutes, then tip in the coconut milk along with chickpeas and liquid. Heat until boiling, lower heat to gentle cook, and leave it to tick over about 35 minutes, until thickened and deep yellow in colour. Add salt to taste, mix in fresh basil.

With a spoon’s back forming small wells within the sauce, then crack an egg into each. Sprinkle the top of each egg with a little salt, cover the skillet, simmer over low heat for a few minutes, when whites are cooked and yolks warmed. Remove from heat, garnish with more basil and thinly sliced finger chillies, ready to enjoy.

Merguez Ragu with Tangy Peppers Baked Eggs

Preparation 10 min
Cook 45 minutes
Yields 2

Oil
Spicy lamb sausages
Spicy paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
Tomato base
Salt
4 eggs
1 handful pickled peppers, coarsely cut
Chopped herbs, finely chopped
Creamy yogurt
1 lemon, wedge-cut, as garnish

Use a heavy pan on a medium heat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and, once it’s warm, take off sausage casings and break off pieces of the meat into the pan, almost like little meatballs. Lower temperature, cook until golden, so it renders out all that spicy, flavour-packed fat. Move sausage pieces as they cook, for even browning.

Once browned, add the harissa, cumin seeds and sliced garlic to the pan, adjust to moderate flame fry with mixing, briefly, until the mix smells fragrant, and garlic softens. Add tomatoes, add seasoning and bring to a simmer. Reduce to low heat cooking gently for twenty minutes. Ragu thickens, thicken and deepen in colour, with oils separating and surfacing.

With a spoon forming wells within sauce, add eggs individually. Sprinkle the top of each egg with salt, place lid on pan. Cook for two to three minutes over a low heat, when eggs set with yolks runny.

Take off the heat, finish with chopped pickled peppers, parsley and yogurt, plus oil drizzle, accompanied by lemon.