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Let me explain: the best baked eggs don’t ever hit the oven. During recipe development, I found that simply adding a lid produces a humid atmosphere that gently cooks the eggs, delivering a gently cooked perfectly poached egg with a tender white and flowing center. The intense, dry heat in conventional ovens acts stronger than steam, typically causing making dishes dry resulting in firm yolks. Here are two sauce options as a jumping-off point, but get creative. Option one involves a straightforward golden coconut sauce, and the second offers a merguez ragu puts a twist on classic tomato-baked eggs, essentially, eggs cooked in zesty tomato base.

Golden Coconut Sauce Steamed Eggs (shown above)

Preparation 10 min
Cooking time Just under an hour
Yields 2

Olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
Fine sea salt
Two garlic cloves, minced garlic
10g fresh ginger, grated ginger
Golden spice
½ tbsp cumin seeds
6-8 curry leaves
200ml coconut milk
400g tin chickpeas
Fresh basil, plus extra to serve
Four eggs
Green chilies, thinly cut, as garnish

Use a heavy skillet at moderate-high temperature. Add a shot of olive oil, add the chopped onion seasoned with salt, sauté for several minutes. Mix in garlic, ginger, and spices, leave to sizzle, stirring occasionally briefly, pour in creamy liquid and the chickpeas and their tin liquid. Let it bubble, lower heat to gentle cook, allow to cook slowly for 30-35 minutes, when sauce is rich and yellow. Add salt to taste, incorporate basil.

Employ a utensil forming small wells in the sauce, then crack an egg into each. Dust each egg with a little salt, then cover the pan with a lid, gently heat for a few minutes, when whites are cooked and yolks warmed. Turn off stove, garnish with more basil and sliced chilies, ready to enjoy.

Spicy Sausage Sauce with Tangy Peppers Steamed Eggs

Preparation 10 min
Cooking time 45 min
Serves Two portions

Olive oil
Merguez sausages
Spicy paste
Cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, minced garlic
Canned tomatoes
Seasoning
4 eggs
Pickled peppers, diced
Fresh parsley, diced
Greek yogurt
1 lemon, sliced into wedges, as garnish

Heat a skillet over medium flame. Drizzle olive oil and, once it’s warm, remove the skins from the sausages forming small bits into the skillet, like mini balls. Turn down the heat, then slowly brown the sausagemeat, releasing flavorful oils. Stir merguez during cooking, for even browning.

After browning, incorporate harissa, cumin, and garlic into the skillet, turn up the heat to medium and cook, stirring, briefly, when fragrant, with garlic cooked. Add tomatoes, salt to taste let it bubble. Turn down the heat to low and leave to blip away about 20 minutes. The ragu will reduce, become richer and darker, as oils separate.

Employ utensil forming wells in the sauce, then crack an egg into each. Sprinkle the top of each egg lightly salted, then cover the pan with a lid. Simmer briefly over a low heat, until whites firm and the yolks just warm.

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