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Consider this: the most delicious egg dishes don’t ever hit the oven. Through culinary experiments, discovering that covering the pan creates a steamy environment that gently cooks the eggs, yielding tender perfectly poached egg featuring set whites and flowing center. The harsh, arid temperature from baking proves harsher compared to steaming, often leading to dry everything out resulting in firm yolks. Presenting two flavorful bases to get started, but get creative. One is a super-simple golden coconut sauce, whereas the spicy sausage sauce puts a twist on traditional spicy eggs, essentially, eggs cooked in zesty tomato base.

Turmeric Coconut Curry Baked Eggs (shown above)

Preparation 10 minutes
Cooking time 55 minutes
Serves 2

Extra virgin oil
1 onion, skinned and diced
Sea salt
Two garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
Fresh ginger root, grated ginger
1 tbsp ground turmeric
Cumin seeds
6-8 curry leaves
200ml coconut milk
Chickpeas
Basil leaves, with more for garnish
4 eggs
2 green finger chillies, finely sliced, to serve

Heat a cast-iron pan on a medium-high heat. Add a shot of olive oil, toss in the onion and a pinch of salt, and cook for five to six minutes. Mix in garlic, ginger, and spices, leave to sizzle, stirring occasionally for a few minutes, add coconut milk and the chickpeas and their tin liquid. Let it bubble, reduce to a simmer, and leave it to tick over about 35 minutes, until thick and golden. Adjust seasoning, mix in fresh basil.

Employ a utensil making four indentations in the sauce, add eggs individually. Season eggs with a little salt, place a lid on the pan, gently heat for a few minutes, until the whites are set and yolks warmed. Take off the heat, garnish with more basil and sliced chilies, then serve immediately.

Merguez Ragu and Pickled Peppers Baked Eggs

Prep 10 minutes
Cooking time Under an hour
Serves Two

Oil
Spicy lamb sausages
1 tbsp harissa
1 tsp cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, sliced thin
400g good-quality tinned tomatoes
Fine sea salt
Fresh eggs
Tangy peppers, roughly chopped
Chopped herbs, diced
3 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt
Fresh lemon, cut into wedges, to serve

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot on a medium heat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and, once it’s warm, remove the skins from the sausages and break off pieces of the meat into the pan, resembling tiny meatballs. Reduce heat, then slowly brown the sausagemeat, extracting spicy fats. Stir merguez during cooking, to brown evenly.

After browning, add the harissa, cumin seeds and sliced garlic to the pot, adjust to moderate flame fry with mixing, briefly, until the mix smells fragrant, with garlic cooked. Tip in the tomatoes, season with salt and bring to a simmer. Lower to gentle simmer and leave to blip away for twenty minutes. The ragu will reduce, become richer and darker, with oils separating and surfacing.

Use the back of a spoon to create four little pockets across base, then crack an egg into each. Season eggs with salt, cover skillet. Heat for minutes gently, until whites firm and yolks warmed.

Remove from heat, top with pickled peppers, herbs, yogurt dollop, plus oil drizzle, with lemon on side.