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Consider this: the best baked eggs never require an oven. During recipe development, discovering that covering the pan creates a steamy environment to cook the top of the eggs, delivering a gently cooked soft-cooked egg with firm whites plus liquid yolk. The intense, dry heat of the oven is much more aggressive than steam, often leading making dishes dry and harden the yolk. Here are two sauce options as inspiration, encouraging customization. The first features an easy turmeric coconut curry, while the merguez ragu reimagines classic tomato-baked eggs, or, to the likes of you and me, spicy tomato eggs.

Golden Coconut Sauce Steamed Eggs (pictured above)

Prep 10 minutes
Cook Just under an hour
Serves Two people

Extra virgin oil
One medium onion, skinned and diced
Fine sea salt
Two garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
10g fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
Golden spice
½ tbsp cumin seeds
Aromatic leaves
Creamy coconut
Canned chickpeas
Fresh basil, plus extra to serve
4 eggs
2 green finger chillies, finely sliced, for serving

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot over medium-high flame. Add a shot of olive oil, toss in the onion seasoned with salt, and cook for five to six minutes. Incorporate aromatics and spices, leave to sizzle, mixing now and then briefly, then tip in the coconut milk including chickpea can contents. Heat until boiling, reduce to a simmer, allow to cook slowly about 35 minutes, until thick and golden. Season with salt, then stir in the basil leaves.

With a spoon’s back making four indentations in the sauce, then crack an egg into each. Sprinkle the top of each egg lightly salted, place a lid on the pan, simmer over low heat briefly, until the whites are set with yolks still runny. Take off the heat, top with fresh herbs plus chili slices, and serve.

Merguez Ragu and Pickled Peppers Baked Eggs

Prep 10 minutes
Cook Under an hour
Yields 2

Oil
2 merguez-style lamb sausages
Harissa paste
Toasted cumin
Garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
Tomato base
Fine sea salt
Fresh eggs
Pickled peppers, diced
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
3 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt
Fresh lemon, sliced into wedges, as garnish

Use a heavy pan on a medium heat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil when heated, peel sausages and pinch small amounts adding to pan, like mini balls. Turn down the heat, brown the meat slowly, so it renders out all that spicy, flavour-packed fat. Move sausage pieces as they cook, to brown evenly.

After browning, add the harissa, cumin seeds and sliced garlic to the pot, adjust to moderate flame and cook, stirring, for several minutes, until aromatic, with garlic cooked. Pour in tomato contents, salt to taste let it bubble. Turn down the heat to low and leave to blip away for twenty minutes. Sauce will thicken, intensify in color, as oils separate.

Employ utensil to create four little pockets across base, then crack an egg into each. Dust with salt lightly salted, place lid on pan. Simmer briefly gently, until whites firm and the yolks just warm.

Take off the heat, top with pickled peppers, herbs, yogurt dollop, and a drizzle of oil, with lemon on side.