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Let me explain: the most delicious egg dishes don’t ever hit the oven. During recipe development, I found that simply adding a lid produces a humid atmosphere to cook the top of the eggs, delivering a gently cooked perfectly poached egg with firm whites and a warm, runny yolk. Direct oven heat of the oven is much more aggressive compared to steaming, and has a tendency to dehydrate ingredients and harden the yolk. I’ve given you two sauces as inspiration, though feel free to experiment. One is a super-simple golden coconut sauce, and the second offers a merguez ragu is a riff on traditional spicy eggs, or simply put, eggs baked in spicy tomato sauce.

Golden Coconut Sauce Baked Eggs (shown above)

Preparation 10 min
Cooking time 55 min
Yields 2

Extra virgin oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
Sea salt
Two garlic cloves, minced garlic
10g fresh ginger, grated ginger
1 tbsp ground turmeric
Cumin seeds
6-8 curry leaves
Creamy coconut
Canned chickpeas
Basil leaves, with more for garnish
Fresh eggs
Green chilies, finely sliced, as garnish

Use a heavy skillet over medium-high flame. Add a shot of olive oil, add the chopped onion with some salt, sauté for several minutes. Mix in garlic, ginger, and spices, let them sizzle, occasionally stirring for a few minutes, then tip in the coconut milk including chickpea can contents. Bring to a boil, lower heat to gentle cook, allow to cook slowly for 30-35 minutes, until thickened and deep yellow in colour. Adjust seasoning, then stir in the basil leaves.

Use the back of a spoon making four indentations in the sauce, break eggs into each. Dust each egg lightly salted, then cover the pan with a lid, and cook on a low heat briefly, until egg whites firm and the yolks just warm. Turn off stove, top with fresh herbs and sliced chilies, ready to enjoy.

Merguez Ragu and Pickled Peppers Steamed Eggs

Preparation Quick prep
Cook Under an hour
Serves Two

Olive oil
2 merguez-style lamb sausages
Spicy paste
Cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, sliced thin
400g good-quality tinned tomatoes
Salt
Fresh eggs
Pickled peppers, roughly chopped
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced
3 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt
1 lemon, cut into wedges, for serving

Heat a skillet on a medium heat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil once hot, take off sausage casings and break off pieces into the skillet, resembling tiny meatballs. Lower temperature, brown the meat slowly, extracting spicy fats. Roll the merguez pieces around the pan 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, briefly, until aromatic, with garlic cooked. Pour in tomato contents, salt to taste let it bubble. Lower to gentle simmer and simmer slowly for 20 minutes. Ragu thickens, become richer and darker, as oils separate.

Employ utensil forming wells in the sauce, add eggs individually. Dust with salt lightly salted, place lid on pan. Heat for minutes on low flame, until whites firm with yolks runny.

Turn off stove, top with pickled peppers, parsley, a blob of yoghurt, and oil splash, accompanied by lemon.