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Consider this: the best baked eggs never require an oven. Through culinary experiments, I found that simply adding a lid creates a steamy environment to cook the top of the eggs, delivering a gently cooked soft-cooked egg featuring set whites plus liquid yolk. The harsh, arid temperature from baking is much more aggressive versus moist heat, and has a tendency to dehydrate ingredients and overcook the yolk. I’ve given you two sauces as inspiration, but get creative. The first features an easy coconut turmeric blend, whereas the spicy sausage sauce puts a twist on traditional spicy eggs, or simply put, eggs baked in spicy tomato sauce.

Golden Coconut Sauce Baked Eggs (shown above)

Prep A quick 10 minutes
Cooking time 55 min
Serves Two people

Olive oil
One medium onion, skinned and diced
Fine sea salt
Two garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
Fresh ginger root, minced ginger
Golden spice
Toasted cumin
Curry leaves
Creamy coconut
Canned chickpeas
Fresh basil, with more for garnish
Four eggs
Green chilies, finely sliced, to serve

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot on a medium-high heat. Drizzle olive oil, toss in the onion with some salt, and cook for five to six minutes. Mix in garlic, ginger, and spices, leave to sizzle, occasionally stirring for a few minutes, add coconut milk along with chickpeas and liquid. Heat until boiling, then turn down to a simmer, let it simmer for half an hour, until thickened and deep yellow in colour. Adjust seasoning, then stir in the basil leaves.

Employ a utensil making four indentations across the base, add eggs individually. Sprinkle the top of each egg with a little salt, then cover the pan with a lid, and cook on a low heat for a few minutes, until egg whites firm and yolks warmed. Turn off stove, garnish with more basil plus chili slices, and serve.

Merguez Ragu with Tangy Peppers Baked Eggs

Preparation 10 min
Cooking time 45 minutes
Serves Two

Oil
Spicy lamb sausages
1 tbsp harissa
Cumin seeds
2 garlic cloves, minced garlic
400g good-quality tinned tomatoes
Salt
Four eggs
Pickled peppers, diced
Fresh parsley, minced
3 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt
Fresh lemon, cut into wedges, to serve

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot over medium flame. Drizzle olive oil and, once it’s warm, take off sausage casings forming small bits of the meat into the pan, like mini balls. Reduce heat, brown the meat slowly, extracting spicy fats. Stir merguez while cooking, to brown evenly.

After browning, mix in spices and garlic into the skillet, increase to medium heat sauté while stirring, briefly, until the mix smells fragrant, and the garlic has lost its raw edge. Pour in tomato contents, add seasoning and bring to a simmer. Reduce to low heat and simmer slowly for twenty minutes. Ragu thickens, thicken and deepen in colour, as oils separate.

With a spoon forming wells within sauce, then crack an egg into each. Season eggs lightly salted, place lid on pan. Heat for minutes on low flame, when eggs set and the yolks just warm.

Turn off stove, garnish with peppers, parsley, a blob of yoghurt, and oil splash, accompanied by lemon.