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So, hear me out: the most delicious egg dishes don’t ever hit the oven. During recipe development, discovering that covering the pan produces a humid atmosphere for cooking the egg tops, resulting in perfectly cooked perfectly poached egg with a tender white plus liquid yolk. The intense, dry heat in conventional ovens acts stronger than steam, typically causing to dry everything out resulting in firm yolks. I’ve given you two sauces as inspiration, but get creative. The first features an easy turmeric coconut curry, while the merguez ragu is a riff on classic tomato-baked eggs, essentially, eggs baked in spicy tomato sauce.

Golden Coconut Sauce Steamed Eggs (pictured above)

Prep 10 minutes
Cooking time 55 min
Yields 2

Extra virgin oil
1 onion, skinned and diced
Fine sea salt
Two garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Fresh ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
Turmeric powder
Toasted cumin
Curry leaves
Creamy coconut
400g tin chickpeas
Fresh basil, plus extra to serve
Four eggs
Green chilies, finely sliced, to serve

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot at moderate-high temperature. Add a shot of olive oil, incorporate onions and a pinch of salt, and cook for five to six minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds and curry leaves, leave to sizzle, stirring occasionally briefly, then tip in the coconut milk and the chickpeas and their tin liquid. Let it bubble, then turn down to a simmer, let it simmer for half an hour, when sauce is rich and yellow. Add salt to taste, then stir in the basil leaves.

With a spoon’s back to create four little pockets within the sauce, break eggs into each. Dust each egg lightly salted, place a lid on the pan, simmer over low heat briefly, when whites are cooked and the yolks just warm. Remove from heat, garnish with more basil plus chili slices, then serve immediately.

Spicy Sausage Sauce and Pickled Peppers Baked Eggs

Prep 10 minutes
Cooking time 45 min
Serves 2

Oil
2 merguez-style lamb sausages
1 tbsp harissa
Toasted cumin
Garlic cloves, minced garlic
400g good-quality tinned tomatoes
Fine sea salt
Four eggs
Pickled peppers, roughly chopped
Chopped herbs, diced
Greek yogurt
Fresh lemon, cut into wedges, to serve

Heat a skillet on a medium heat. Pour in oil once hot, take off sausage casings forming small bits adding to pan, resembling tiny meatballs. Lower temperature, cook until golden, so it renders out all that spicy, flavour-packed fat. Move sausage pieces while cooking, so they colour on all sides.

Once browned, mix in spices and garlic to the pot, increase to medium heat and cook, stirring, for three to four minutes, until the mix smells fragrant, and garlic softens. Pour in tomato contents, season with salt let it bubble. Reduce to low heat cooking gently for twenty 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 in the sauce, add eggs individually. Sprinkle the top of each egg with a little salt, then cover the pan with a lid. Cook for two to three minutes on low flame, until the whites are set and the yolks just warm.

Turn off stove, top with pickled peppers, parsley, a blob of yoghurt, and a drizzle of oil, and serve with lemon wedges.