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So, hear me out: the best baked eggs are made without baking. When testing these recipes, discovering that covering the pan produces a humid atmosphere to cook the top of the eggs, resulting in perfectly cooked delicately prepared egg featuring set whites plus liquid yolk. The intense, dry heat in conventional ovens proves harsher compared to steaming, often leading to dry everything out resulting in firm yolks. Here are two sauce options to get started, though feel free to experiment. One is a super-simple coconut turmeric blend, and the second offers a merguez ragu puts a twist on eggs in purgatory, or, to the likes of you and me, spicy tomato eggs.

Turmeric Coconut Curry Baked Eggs (shown above)

Preparation A quick 10 minutes
Cooking time 55 minutes
Yields 2

Extra virgin oil
One medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
Fine sea salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Fresh ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
Turmeric powder
½ tbsp cumin seeds
Curry leaves
Creamy coconut
400g tin chickpeas
Fresh basil, plus extra to serve
Four eggs
2 green finger chillies, julienned, for serving

Heat a cast-iron pan over medium-high flame. Pour in some oil, toss in the onion with some salt, sauté for several minutes. Incorporate aromatics and spices, let them sizzle, stirring occasionally for a few minutes, add coconut milk and the chickpeas and their tin liquid. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer, allow to cook slowly about 35 minutes, when sauce is rich and yellow. Add salt to taste, incorporate basil.

Use the back of a spoon making four indentations in the sauce, break eggs into each. Sprinkle the top of each egg with salt, then cover the pan with a lid, simmer over low heat for two to three minutes, until the whites are set with yolks still runny. Take off the heat, top with fresh herbs plus chili slices, then serve immediately.

Merguez Ragu and Pickled Peppers Baked Eggs

Prep Quick prep
Cooking time 45 min
Yields 2

Olive oil
Merguez sausages
Harissa paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
Tomato base
Salt
Four eggs
1 handful pickled peppers, diced
Fresh parsley, diced
Creamy yogurt
1 lemon, cut into wedges, to serve

Use a heavy pan at moderate temperature. Pour in oil and, once it’s warm, remove the skins from the sausages forming small bits into the skillet, like mini balls. Reduce heat, cook until golden, releasing flavorful oils. Stir merguez during cooking, for even browning.

When golden, mix in spices and garlic to the pan, turn up the heat to medium sauté while stirring, briefly, until the mix smells fragrant, and the garlic has lost its raw edge. Pour in tomato contents, season with salt let it bubble. Turn down the heat to low cooking gently about 20 minutes. Sauce will thicken, intensify in color, while the oils split and rise to the top.

Employ utensil to create four little pockets in the sauce, add eggs individually. Season eggs with salt, place lid on pan. Heat for minutes gently, until the whites are set with yolks runny.

Remove from heat, top with pickled peppers, herbs, yogurt dollop, and oil splash, accompanied by lemon.