🔗 Share this article

Consider this: the best baked eggs are made without baking. Through culinary experiments, I found that simply adding a lid generates steam to cook the top of the eggs, resulting in perfectly cooked perfectly poached egg featuring set whites and flowing center. Direct oven heat in conventional ovens acts stronger than steam, often leading to dry everything out and overcook the yolk. Here are two sauce options as a jumping-off point, encouraging customization. Option one involves a straightforward coconut turmeric blend, whereas the spicy sausage sauce puts a twist on traditional spicy eggs, or simply put, spicy tomato eggs.

Golden Coconut Sauce Baked Eggs (pictured above)

Preparation A quick 10 minutes
Cooking time Just under an hour
Serves 2

Olive oil
One medium onion, trimmed and minced
Salt
2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
10g fresh ginger, grated ginger
1 tbsp ground turmeric
Toasted cumin
Curry leaves
200ml coconut milk
400g tin chickpeas
A few basil leaves, with more for garnish
4 eggs
2 green finger chillies, thinly cut, for serving

Use a heavy skillet at moderate-high temperature. Pour in some oil, add the chopped onion seasoned with salt, and cook for five to six minutes. Incorporate aromatics and spices, leave to sizzle, mixing now and then briefly, pour in creamy liquid and the chickpeas and their tin liquid. Heat until boiling, then turn down to a simmer, and leave it to tick over for 30-35 minutes, until thick and golden. Add salt to taste, mix in fresh basil.

Employ a utensil to create four little pockets within the sauce, add eggs individually. Sprinkle the top of each egg with a little salt, then cover the pan with a lid, and cook on a low heat briefly, when whites are cooked and yolks warmed. Take off the heat, top with fresh herbs and thinly sliced finger chillies, ready to enjoy.

Merguez Ragu and Pickled Peppers Baked Eggs

Preparation Quick prep
Cook Under an hour
Yields Two

Oil
Spicy lamb sausages
1 tbsp harissa
Cumin seeds
2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
400g good-quality tinned tomatoes
Fine sea salt
Fresh eggs
Pickled peppers, coarsely cut
Fresh parsley, diced
Greek yogurt
Fresh lemon, wedge-cut, to serve

Heat a skillet on a medium heat. Drizzle olive oil when heated, remove the skins from the sausages forming small bits of the meat into the pan, like mini balls. Turn down the heat, then slowly brown the sausagemeat, releasing flavorful oils. Stir merguez as they cook, so they colour on all sides.

After browning, add the harissa, cumin seeds and sliced garlic to the pan, increase to medium heat fry with mixing, briefly, until aromatic, with garlic cooked. Add tomatoes, season with salt heat to simmer. Reduce to low heat and leave to blip away about 20 minutes. Sauce will thicken, intensify in color, as oils separate.

With a spoon making indentations in the sauce, break eggs in. Season eggs lightly salted, place lid on pan. Heat for minutes over a low heat, until the whites are set and the yolks just warm.

Turn off stove, garnish with peppers, herbs, yogurt dollop, and oil splash, accompanied by lemon.