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So, hear me out: the best baked eggs are made without baking. During recipe development, realizing that using a cover creates a steamy environment that gently cooks the eggs, resulting in perfectly cooked perfectly poached egg with firm whites plus liquid yolk. The harsh, arid temperature in conventional ovens proves harsher than steam, typically causing making dishes dry resulting in firm yolks. Presenting two flavorful bases to get started, though feel free to experiment. The first features an easy turmeric coconut curry, whereas the spicy sausage sauce puts a twist on eggs in purgatory, or, to the likes of you and me, spicy tomato eggs.

Golden Coconut Sauce Baked Eggs (featured)

Preparation 10 min
Cook 55 min
Serves Two servings

Olive oil
One medium onion, trimmed and minced
Salt
2 garlic cloves, minced garlic
10g fresh ginger, minced ginger
1 tbsp ground turmeric
Toasted cumin
Aromatic leaves
Coconut milk
Chickpeas
Fresh basil, plus extra to serve
4 eggs
Fresh chilies, thinly cut, for serving

Heat a cast-iron pan at moderate-high temperature. Drizzle olive oil, toss in the onion and a pinch of salt, sauté for several minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds and curry leaves, allow to cook, occasionally stirring for a few minutes, pour in creamy liquid including chickpea can contents. Heat until boiling, lower heat to gentle cook, and leave it to tick over about 35 minutes, when sauce is rich and yellow. Add salt to taste, incorporate basil.

With a spoon’s back forming small wells within the sauce, break eggs into each. Season eggs with salt, then cover the pan with a lid, and cook on a low heat for a few minutes, when whites are cooked with yolks still runny. Turn off stove, top with fresh herbs and sliced chilies, and serve.

Spicy Sausage Sauce and Pickled Peppers Baked Eggs

Prep 10 min
Cook 45 minutes
Serves Two portions

Olive oil
2 merguez-style lamb sausages
Harissa paste
Cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, minced garlic
Canned tomatoes
Fine sea salt
4 eggs
Pickled peppers, roughly chopped
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced
Greek yogurt
Fresh lemon, cut into wedges, as garnish

Use a heavy pan at moderate temperature. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and, once it’s warm, take off sausage casings forming small bits into the skillet, resembling tiny meatballs. Turn down the heat, then slowly brown the sausagemeat, extracting spicy fats. Roll the merguez pieces around the pan as they cook, for even browning.

After browning, incorporate harissa, cumin, and garlic into the skillet, adjust to moderate flame fry with mixing, briefly, until the mix smells fragrant, and garlic softens. Add tomatoes, salt to taste heat to simmer. Reduce to low heat and simmer slowly about 20 minutes. Ragu thickens, become richer and darker, with oils separating and surfacing.

Employ utensil making indentations in the sauce, break eggs in. Season eggs with salt, then cover the pan with a lid. Heat for minutes gently, until the whites are set with yolks runny.

Turn off stove, garnish with peppers, parsley and yogurt, and a drizzle of oil, with lemon on side.