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Let me explain: the most delicious egg dishes never require an oven. When testing these recipes, discovering that covering the pan generates steam to cook the top of the eggs, yielding tender soft-cooked egg featuring set whites plus liquid yolk. Direct oven heat in conventional ovens is much more aggressive than steam, often leading to dehydrate ingredients and overcook the yolk. Presenting two flavorful bases as inspiration, though feel free to experiment. One is a super-simple turmeric coconut curry, and the second offers a merguez ragu reimagines eggs in purgatory, or, to the likes of you and me, eggs cooked in zesty tomato base.

Golden Coconut Sauce Baked Eggs (pictured above)

Preparation 10 minutes
Cooking time 55 minutes
Yields 2

Olive oil
One medium onion, trimmed and minced
Sea salt
2 garlic cloves, minced garlic
10g fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp ground turmeric
Cumin seeds
6-8 curry leaves
Coconut milk
400g tin chickpeas
Basil leaves, and additional for topping
4 eggs
Green chilies, thinly cut, as garnish

Use a heavy skillet at moderate-high temperature. Pour in some oil, incorporate onions seasoned with salt, and cook for five to six minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds and curry leaves, leave to sizzle, occasionally stirring briefly, pour in creamy liquid including chickpea can contents. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, let it simmer for half an hour, when sauce is rich and yellow. Season with salt, then stir in the basil leaves.

With a spoon’s back to create four little pockets within the sauce, add eggs individually. Dust each egg lightly salted, then cover the pan with a lid, and cook on a low heat for two to three minutes, until egg whites firm and the yolks just warm. Remove from heat, finish with a few extra basil leaves and sliced chilies, ready to enjoy.

Merguez Ragu and Pickled Peppers Baked Eggs

Preparation 10 min
Cook 45 min
Yields Two

Oil
2 merguez-style lamb sausages
1 tbsp harissa
1 tsp cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
Canned tomatoes
Salt
Fresh eggs
1 handful pickled peppers, roughly chopped
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, diced
Greek yogurt
1 lemon, sliced into wedges, to serve

Use a heavy pan on a medium heat. Pour in oil and, once it’s warm, remove the skins from the sausages and break off pieces into the skillet, like mini balls. Lower temperature, brown the meat slowly, extracting spicy fats. Move sausage pieces while cooking, to brown evenly.

When golden, mix in spices and garlic into the skillet, turn up the heat to medium fry with mixing, for several minutes, when fragrant, and the garlic has lost its raw edge. Tip in the tomatoes, season with salt let it bubble. Turn down the heat to low cooking gently for twenty minutes. Sauce will thicken, thicken and deepen in colour, as oils separate.

With a spoon forming wells within sauce, add eggs individually. Season eggs with a little salt, place lid on pan. Simmer briefly over a low heat, until whites firm with yolks runny.

Take off the heat, finish with chopped pickled peppers, herbs, yogurt dollop, and oil splash, with lemon on side.