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Let me explain: the best baked eggs are made without baking. When testing these recipes, I found that simply adding a lid creates a steamy environment for cooking the egg tops, delivering a gently cooked perfectly poached egg with firm whites plus liquid yolk. The intense, dry heat of the oven is much more aggressive versus moist heat, and has a tendency to dehydrate ingredients and overcook the yolk. Presenting two flavorful bases as a jumping-off point, encouraging customization. Option one involves a straightforward turmeric coconut curry, whereas the spicy sausage sauce puts a twist on traditional spicy eggs, or, to the likes of you and me, eggs cooked in zesty tomato base.

Turmeric Coconut Curry Baked Eggs (shown above)

Prep A quick 10 minutes
Cook Just under an hour
Serves Two people

Extra virgin oil
One medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
Sea salt
Two garlic cloves, minced garlic
Fresh ginger root, minced ginger
1 tbsp ground turmeric
½ tbsp cumin seeds
6-8 curry leaves
200ml coconut milk
400g tin chickpeas
Basil leaves, plus extra to serve
4 eggs
Green chilies, finely sliced, as garnish

Heat a cast-iron pan on a medium-high heat. Add a shot of olive oil, add the chopped onion with some salt, sauté for several minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds and curry leaves, let them sizzle, stirring occasionally briefly, pour in creamy liquid including chickpea can contents. Let it bubble, then turn down to a simmer, and leave it to tick over about 35 minutes, until thickened and deep yellow in colour. Season with salt, mix in fresh basil.

Use the back of a spoon forming small wells in the sauce, add eggs individually. Season eggs with a little salt, then cover the pan with a lid, simmer over low heat for a few minutes, until the whites are set and yolks warmed. Take off the heat, top with fresh herbs and thinly sliced finger chillies, and serve.

Spicy Sausage Sauce and Pickled Peppers Baked Eggs

Preparation 10 min
Cooking time 45 minutes
Yields 2

Oil
2 merguez-style lamb sausages
Spicy paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
Canned tomatoes
Fine sea salt
Fresh eggs
Pickled peppers, roughly chopped
Chopped herbs, minced
Creamy yogurt
Fresh lemon, cut into wedges, for serving

Heat a skillet at moderate temperature. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and, once it’s warm, remove the skins from the sausages and pinch small amounts adding to pan, almost like little meatballs. Turn down the heat, cook until golden, so it renders out all that spicy, flavour-packed fat. Move sausage pieces while cooking, to brown evenly.

Once browned, mix in spices and garlic to the pan, turn up the heat to medium fry with mixing, 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 and leave to blip away for twenty minutes. Sauce will thicken, thicken and deepen in colour, while the oils split and rise to the top.

Use the back of a spoon making indentations across base, break eggs in. Dust with salt with salt, then cover the pan with a lid. Simmer briefly over a low heat, until whites firm and yolks warmed.

Take off the heat, top with pickled peppers, parsley and yogurt, and a drizzle of oil, and serve with lemon wedges.