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Let me explain: the best baked eggs never require an oven. During recipe development, discovering that covering the pan creates a steamy environment for cooking the egg tops, resulting in perfectly cooked perfectly poached egg with a tender white and a warm, runny yolk. The intense, dry heat of the oven is much more aggressive versus moist heat, and has a tendency to dry everything out and harden the yolk. Presenting two flavorful bases to get started, encouraging customization. The first features an easy turmeric coconut curry, whereas the spicy sausage sauce is a riff on traditional spicy eggs, or, to the likes of you and me, spicy tomato eggs.

Golden Coconut Sauce Baked Eggs (shown above)

Prep 10 minutes
Cook 55 min
Yields 2

Olive oil
One medium onion, trimmed and minced
Salt
Two garlic cloves, minced garlic
10g fresh ginger, grated ginger
Turmeric powder
Cumin seeds
Aromatic leaves
200ml coconut milk
Canned chickpeas
Basil leaves, plus extra to serve
4 eggs
2 green finger chillies, julienned, as garnish

Heat a cast-iron pan at moderate-high temperature. Pour in some oil, add the chopped onion seasoned with salt, fry until softened. Incorporate aromatics and spices, leave to sizzle, stirring occasionally for a few minutes, pour in creamy liquid and the chickpeas and their tin liquid. Heat until boiling, lower heat to gentle cook, and leave it to tick over for half an hour, until thickened and deep yellow in colour. Add salt to taste, incorporate basil.

Use the back of a spoon to create four little pockets within the sauce, break eggs into each. Dust each egg lightly salted, cover the skillet, gently heat for a few minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks just warm. Turn off stove, finish with a few extra basil leaves and sliced chilies, and serve.

Merguez Ragu with Tangy Peppers Steamed Eggs

Prep 10 min
Cooking time 45 minutes
Yields Two

Olive oil
Spicy lamb sausages
Harissa paste
Toasted cumin
2 garlic cloves, minced garlic
Canned tomatoes
Seasoning
Four eggs
Pickled peppers, coarsely cut
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Creamy yogurt
1 lemon, cut into wedges, for serving

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot at moderate temperature. Drizzle olive oil and, once it’s warm, remove the skins from the sausages forming small bits adding to pan, almost like little meatballs. Lower temperature, then slowly brown the sausagemeat, releasing flavorful oils. Stir merguez while cooking, so they colour on all sides.

Once browned, add the harissa, cumin seeds and sliced garlic to the pan, adjust to moderate flame fry with mixing, for several minutes, when fragrant, with garlic cooked. Tip in the tomatoes, salt to taste and bring to a simmer. Reduce to low heat cooking gently for 20 minutes. Sauce will thicken, intensify in color, with oils separating and surfacing.

Employ utensil making indentations in the sauce, then crack an egg into each. Season eggs lightly salted, place lid on pan. Heat for minutes gently, when eggs set and yolks warmed.

Remove from heat, finish with chopped pickled peppers, parsley, a blob of yoghurt, plus oil drizzle, and serve with lemon wedges.