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Let me explain: the best baked eggs don’t ever hit the oven. Through culinary experiments, discovering that covering the pan produces a humid atmosphere to cook the top of the eggs, delivering a gently cooked perfectly poached egg with a tender white and flowing center. The harsh, arid temperature in conventional ovens proves harsher than steam, and has a tendency to dry everything out and overcook the yolk. Here are two sauce options to get started, but get creative. The first features an easy coconut turmeric blend, while the merguez ragu reimagines eggs in purgatory, or, to the likes of you and me, eggs baked in spicy tomato sauce.

Turmeric Coconut Curry Baked Eggs (shown above)

Preparation 10 minutes
Cook Just under an hour
Yields 2

Olive oil
One medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
Fine sea salt
Two garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Fresh ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
Turmeric powder
½ tbsp cumin seeds
Curry leaves
Coconut milk
400g tin chickpeas
Fresh basil, plus extra to serve
4 eggs
Fresh chilies, finely sliced, for serving

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot at moderate-high temperature. Pour in some oil, incorporate onions and a pinch of salt, sauté for several minutes. Incorporate aromatics and spices, leave to sizzle, mixing now and then for three to four minutes, pour in creamy liquid including chickpea can contents. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer, and leave it to tick over for half an hour, until thickened and deep yellow in colour. Adjust seasoning, incorporate basil.

Employ a utensil making four indentations within the sauce, add eggs individually. Sprinkle the top of each egg lightly salted, cover the skillet, simmer over low heat for two to three minutes, when whites are cooked and the yolks just warm. Turn off stove, garnish with more basil plus chili slices, ready to enjoy.

Spicy Sausage Sauce with Tangy Peppers Steamed Eggs

Prep 10 minutes
Cooking time Under an hour
Serves Two

Oil
Spicy lamb sausages
1 tbsp harissa
Cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
400g good-quality tinned tomatoes
Salt
Fresh eggs
Pickled peppers, diced
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced
3 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt
Fresh lemon, sliced into wedges, as garnish

Use a heavy pan over medium flame. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and, once it’s warm, peel sausages and pinch small amounts adding to pan, like mini balls. Lower temperature, then slowly brown the sausagemeat, extracting spicy fats. Stir merguez while cooking, to brown evenly.

When golden, add the harissa, cumin seeds and sliced garlic into the skillet, increase to medium heat fry with mixing, briefly, when fragrant, and the garlic has lost its raw edge. Pour in tomato contents, add seasoning let it bubble. Turn down the heat to low cooking gently about 20 minutes. Sauce will thicken, intensify in color, with oils separating and surfacing.

Employ utensil to create four little pockets within sauce, then crack an egg into each. Dust with salt with salt, then cover the pan with a lid. Cook for two to three minutes over a low heat, when eggs set and the yolks just warm.

Turn off stove, top with pickled peppers, herbs, yogurt dollop, plus oil drizzle, accompanied by lemon.