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Consider this: the best baked eggs don’t ever hit the oven. Through culinary experiments, I found that simply adding a lid generates steam that gently cooks the eggs, resulting in perfectly cooked delicately prepared egg featuring set whites plus liquid yolk. Direct oven heat in conventional ovens is much more aggressive versus moist heat, typically causing to dehydrate ingredients resulting in firm yolks. Here are two sauce options to get started, encouraging customization. Option one involves a straightforward golden coconut sauce, 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 Steamed Eggs (featured)

Prep 10 minutes
Cooking time 55 minutes
Serves Two people

Olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
Sea salt
Two garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
Fresh ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
Golden spice
Toasted cumin
Curry leaves
Creamy coconut
Canned chickpeas
A few basil leaves, with more for garnish
4 eggs
Fresh chilies, julienned, for serving

Heat a cast-iron pan at moderate-high temperature. Pour in some oil, incorporate onions with some salt, fry until softened. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds and curry leaves, leave to sizzle, occasionally stirring for a few minutes, add coconut milk including chickpea can contents. Let it bubble, reduce to a simmer, let it simmer for 30-35 minutes, until thick and golden. Adjust seasoning, mix in fresh basil.

Use the back of a spoon forming small wells across the base, add eggs individually. Season eggs with salt, place a lid on the pan, simmer over low heat briefly, when whites are cooked and yolks warmed. Take off the heat, top with fresh herbs and sliced chilies, then serve immediately.

Merguez Ragu and Pickled Peppers Baked Eggs

Prep Quick prep
Cooking time Under an hour
Serves 2

Olive oil
Spicy lamb sausages
Harissa paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, sliced thin
Canned tomatoes
Fine sea salt
4 eggs
Pickled peppers, diced
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
3 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt
Fresh lemon, cut into wedges, for serving

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot over medium flame. Pour in oil when heated, take off sausage casings and break off pieces adding to pan, like mini balls. Reduce heat, cook until golden, so it renders out all that spicy, flavour-packed fat. Stir merguez while cooking, so they colour on all sides.

Once browned, add the harissa, cumin seeds and sliced garlic into the skillet, adjust to moderate flame sauté while stirring, for several minutes, until the mix smells fragrant, and garlic softens. Add tomatoes, add seasoning let it bubble. Lower to gentle simmer and simmer slowly for 20 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 a little salt, then cover the pan with a lid. Simmer briefly over a low heat, until whites firm with yolks runny.

Take off the heat, finish with chopped pickled peppers, parsley, a blob of yoghurt, and a drizzle of oil, and serve with lemon wedges.