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Let me explain: the best baked eggs don’t ever hit the oven. When testing these recipes, realizing that using a cover generates steam for cooking the egg tops, yielding tender perfectly poached egg with a tender white plus liquid yolk. Direct oven heat from baking is much more aggressive versus moist heat, typically causing making dishes dry and overcook the yolk. Here are two sauce options as a jumping-off point, encouraging customization. The first features an easy turmeric coconut curry, whereas the spicy sausage sauce reimagines classic tomato-baked eggs, essentially, spicy tomato eggs.

Turmeric Coconut Curry Baked Eggs (featured)

Preparation 10 minutes
Cooking time 55 minutes
Serves Two servings

Extra virgin oil
One medium onion, trimmed and minced
Fine sea salt
2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
10g fresh ginger, grated ginger
Turmeric powder
Cumin seeds
Aromatic leaves
Coconut milk
Chickpeas
Fresh basil, with more for garnish
Fresh eggs
2 green finger chillies, finely sliced, for serving

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot over medium-high flame. Drizzle olive oil, toss in the onion with some salt, and cook for five to six minutes. Mix in garlic, ginger, and spices, let them sizzle, mixing now and then for a few minutes, then tip in the coconut milk including chickpea can contents. Let it bubble, lower heat to gentle cook, and leave it to tick over for half an hour, until thickened and deep yellow in colour. Adjust seasoning, incorporate basil.

Use the back of a spoon making four indentations in the sauce, then crack an egg into each. Season eggs with a little salt, then cover the pan with a lid, and cook on a low heat for a few minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks just warm. Turn off stove, garnish with more basil and sliced chilies, ready to enjoy.

Spicy Sausage Sauce with Tangy Peppers Steamed Eggs

Preparation 10 minutes
Cook Under an hour
Yields 2

Olive oil
Merguez sausages
Spicy paste
Cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, sliced thin
Canned tomatoes
Seasoning
Fresh eggs
Tangy peppers, coarsely cut
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, diced
Creamy yogurt
Fresh lemon, cut into wedges, for serving

Use a heavy pan over medium flame. Pour in oil once hot, take off sausage casings and break off pieces of the meat into the pan, like mini balls. Lower temperature, brown the meat slowly, so it renders out all that spicy, flavour-packed fat. Stir merguez during cooking, for even browning.

Once browned, mix in spices and garlic to the pan, adjust to moderate flame and cook, stirring, for three to four minutes, until aromatic, and the garlic has lost its raw edge. Tip in the tomatoes, add seasoning heat to simmer. Reduce to low heat cooking gently about 20 minutes. Ragu thickens, become richer and darker, while the oils split and rise to the top.

Use the back of a spoon making indentations within sauce, break eggs in. Season eggs with salt, place lid on pan. Heat for minutes on low flame, until whites firm with yolks runny.

Turn off stove, finish with chopped pickled peppers, parsley, a blob of yoghurt, and a drizzle of oil, and serve with lemon wedges.