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Let me explain: the best baked eggs never require an oven. During recipe development, discovering that covering the pan creates a steamy environment to cook the top of the eggs, delivering a gently cooked soft-cooked egg with firm whites plus liquid yolk. The intense, dry heat of the oven is much more aggressive than steam, typically causing to dehydrate ingredients and harden the yolk. Here are two sauce options as inspiration, encouraging customization. The first features an easy turmeric coconut curry, whereas the spicy sausage sauce is a riff on classic tomato-baked eggs, or, to the likes of you and me, eggs baked in spicy tomato sauce.

Golden Coconut Sauce Steamed Eggs (shown above)

Prep 10 minutes
Cooking time 55 minutes
Yields 2

Extra virgin oil
One medium onion, trimmed and minced
Sea salt
Two garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
Fresh ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
Golden spice
½ tbsp cumin seeds
6-8 curry leaves
Coconut milk
Chickpeas
A few basil leaves, and additional for topping
Four eggs
2 green finger chillies, thinly cut, for serving

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot on a medium-high heat. Add a shot of olive oil, toss in the onion with some salt, sauté for several minutes. Incorporate aromatics and spices, leave to sizzle, occasionally stirring briefly, add coconut milk along with chickpeas and liquid. Heat until boiling, then turn down to a simmer, allow to cook slowly for half an hour, until thick and golden. Season with salt, mix in fresh basil.

With a spoon’s back making four indentations in the sauce, add eggs individually. Sprinkle the top of each egg with salt, place a lid on the pan, simmer over low heat for a few minutes, until egg whites firm and the yolks just warm. Remove from heat, finish with a few extra basil leaves and sliced chilies, and serve.

Spicy Sausage Sauce with Tangy Peppers Baked Eggs

Preparation Quick prep
Cook 45 minutes
Serves Two portions

Oil
Merguez sausages
Spicy paste
Cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
400g good-quality tinned tomatoes
Salt
4 eggs
Pickled peppers, roughly chopped
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, diced
Greek yogurt
1 lemon, wedge-cut, to serve

Use a heavy pan on a medium heat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil when heated, take off sausage casings and break off pieces of the meat into the pan, almost like little meatballs. Turn down the heat, brown the meat slowly, so it renders out all that spicy, flavour-packed fat. Roll the merguez pieces around the pan during cooking, to brown evenly.

After browning, add the harissa, cumin seeds and sliced garlic to the pan, turn up the heat to medium fry with mixing, briefly, when fragrant, with garlic cooked. Add tomatoes, season with salt heat to simmer. Lower to gentle simmer and leave to blip away about 20 minutes. Sauce will thicken, become richer and darker, while the oils split and rise to the top.

Use the back of a spoon forming wells in the sauce, break eggs in. Sprinkle the top of each egg with salt, then cover the pan with a lid. Cook for two to three minutes gently, when eggs 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.