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Consider this: the best baked eggs never require an oven. When testing these recipes, discovering that covering the pan creates a steamy environment for cooking the egg tops, delivering a gently cooked perfectly poached egg with firm whites plus liquid yolk. The intense, dry heat in conventional ovens proves harsher versus moist heat, and has a tendency making dishes dry and overcook the yolk. I’ve given you two sauces to get started, encouraging customization. Option one involves a straightforward coconut turmeric blend, and the second offers a merguez ragu is a riff on eggs in purgatory, or simply put, spicy tomato eggs.

Golden Coconut Sauce Baked Eggs (pictured above)

Preparation 10 minutes
Cook 55 minutes
Serves Two people

Extra virgin oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
Fine sea salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
10g fresh ginger, minced ginger
1 tbsp ground turmeric
½ tbsp cumin seeds
Curry leaves
Creamy coconut
400g tin chickpeas
Basil leaves, with more for garnish
Fresh eggs
Green chilies, thinly cut, for serving

Use a heavy skillet over medium-high flame. Pour in some oil, incorporate onions seasoned with salt, sauté for several minutes. Incorporate aromatics and spices, let them sizzle, occasionally stirring for three to four minutes, add coconut milk including chickpea can contents. Let it bubble, lower heat to gentle cook, allow to cook slowly for half an hour, when sauce is rich and yellow. Adjust seasoning, then stir in the basil leaves.

Use the back of a spoon to create four little pockets within the sauce, add eggs individually. Sprinkle the top of each egg with salt, cover the skillet, gently heat briefly, until egg whites firm and yolks warmed. Remove from heat, garnish with more basil and sliced chilies, and serve.

Merguez Ragu with Tangy Peppers Baked Eggs

Prep Quick prep
Cooking time Under an hour
Serves Two

Oil
2 merguez-style lamb sausages
Spicy paste
Toasted cumin
Garlic cloves, sliced thin
400g good-quality tinned tomatoes
Salt
4 eggs
Tangy peppers, roughly chopped
Chopped herbs, finely chopped
Creamy yogurt
Fresh lemon, sliced into wedges, for serving

Use a heavy pan at moderate temperature. Add two tablespoons of olive oil once hot, peel sausages and pinch small amounts of the meat into the pan, resembling tiny meatballs. Turn down the heat, cook until golden, so it renders out all that spicy, flavour-packed fat. Move sausage pieces while cooking, so they colour on all sides.

After browning, add the harissa, cumin seeds and sliced garlic to the pot, increase to medium heat fry with mixing, briefly, when fragrant, and garlic softens. Add tomatoes, salt to taste heat to simmer. Turn down the heat to low and leave to blip away for 20 minutes. Ragu thickens, become richer and darker, while the oils split and rise to the top.

Employ utensil making indentations in the sauce, break eggs in. Sprinkle the top of each egg with a little salt, then cover the pan with a lid. Simmer briefly on low flame, until whites firm and the yolks just warm.

Take off the heat, top with pickled peppers, parsley and yogurt, and oil splash, with lemon on side.