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Consider this: the most delicious egg dishes don’t ever hit the oven. When testing these recipes, I found that simply adding a lid produces a humid atmosphere to cook the top of the eggs, resulting in perfectly cooked soft-cooked egg featuring set whites plus liquid yolk. Direct oven heat from baking is much more aggressive versus moist heat, and has a tendency to dry everything out resulting in firm yolks. Here are two sauce options as a jumping-off point, though feel free to experiment. The first features an easy turmeric coconut curry, and the second offers a merguez ragu puts a twist on classic tomato-baked eggs, essentially, eggs cooked in zesty tomato base.

Turmeric Coconut Curry Baked Eggs (featured)

Preparation 10 min
Cook 55 min
Serves Two servings

Olive oil
1 onion, trimmed and minced
Fine sea salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Fresh ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp ground turmeric
½ tbsp cumin seeds
Curry leaves
200ml coconut milk
Chickpeas
Basil leaves, plus extra to serve
Fresh eggs
2 green finger chillies, thinly cut, for serving

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot on a medium-high heat. Add a shot of olive oil, add the chopped onion seasoned with salt, fry until softened. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds and curry leaves, leave to sizzle, stirring occasionally for a few minutes, then tip in the coconut milk and the chickpeas and their tin liquid. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer, let it simmer about 35 minutes, until thick and golden. Adjust seasoning, mix in fresh basil.

Employ a utensil forming small wells across the base, then crack an egg into each. Sprinkle the top of each egg with a little salt, cover the skillet, gently heat for two to three minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks just warm. Remove from heat, garnish with more basil and thinly sliced finger chillies, and serve.

Merguez Ragu and Pickled Peppers Baked Eggs

Prep 10 min
Cooking time 45 min
Yields 2

Oil
Merguez sausages
Spicy paste
Cumin seeds
2 garlic cloves, minced garlic
Tomato base
Salt
4 eggs
1 handful pickled peppers, roughly chopped
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced
3 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt
1 lemon, sliced into wedges, as garnish

Heat a skillet on a medium heat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and, once it’s warm, take off sausage casings forming small bits of the meat into the pan, almost like little meatballs. Turn down the heat, cook until golden, so it renders out all that spicy, flavour-packed fat. Roll the merguez pieces around the pan as they cook, for even browning.

After browning, mix in spices and garlic to the pot, turn up the heat to medium sauté while stirring, for three to four minutes, until the mix smells fragrant, and the garlic has lost its raw edge. Tip in the tomatoes, salt to taste and bring to a simmer. Lower to gentle simmer cooking gently about 20 minutes. Sauce will thicken, become richer and darker, while the oils split and rise to the top.

Use the back of a spoon making indentations within sauce, add eggs individually. Sprinkle the top of each egg with salt, cover skillet. Cook for two to three minutes gently, until whites firm and the yolks just warm.

Turn off stove, finish with chopped pickled peppers, parsley and yogurt, and oil splash, with lemon on side.