🔗 Share this article

So, hear me out: the most delicious egg dishes don’t ever hit the oven. When testing these recipes, discovering that covering the pan produces a humid atmosphere for cooking the egg tops, delivering a gently cooked soft-cooked egg featuring set whites plus liquid yolk. Direct oven heat of the oven acts stronger compared to steaming, often leading to dehydrate ingredients and harden the yolk. Presenting two flavorful bases as a jumping-off point, though feel free to experiment. Option one involves a straightforward turmeric coconut curry, whereas the spicy sausage sauce is a riff on classic tomato-baked eggs, or simply put, eggs cooked in zesty tomato base.

Golden Coconut Sauce Baked Eggs (pictured above)

Prep A quick 10 minutes
Cooking time 55 minutes
Yields Two people

Extra virgin oil
One medium onion, skinned and diced
Fine sea salt
2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
Fresh ginger root, grated ginger
1 tbsp ground turmeric
Toasted cumin
6-8 curry leaves
Creamy coconut
Canned chickpeas
A few basil leaves, and additional for topping
Fresh eggs
Fresh 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 seasoned with salt, sauté for several minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds and curry leaves, leave to sizzle, mixing now and then for three to four minutes, add coconut milk along with chickpeas and liquid. Bring to a boil, lower heat to gentle cook, and leave it to tick over about 35 minutes, until thickened and deep yellow in colour. Adjust seasoning, then stir in the basil leaves.

Employ a utensil forming small wells within the sauce, break eggs into each. Sprinkle the top of each egg with salt, place a lid on the pan, simmer over low heat for two to three minutes, until egg whites firm and yolks warmed. Take off the heat, top with fresh herbs and sliced chilies, and serve.

Merguez Ragu with Tangy Peppers Baked Eggs

Prep 10 minutes
Cook 45 minutes
Yields Two portions

Olive oil
Merguez sausages
1 tbsp harissa
Toasted cumin
Garlic cloves, minced garlic
Tomato base
Salt
4 eggs
1 handful pickled peppers, diced
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
3 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt
1 lemon, cut into wedges, to serve

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot over medium flame. Pour in oil and, once it’s warm, remove the skins from the sausages and pinch small amounts of the meat into the pan, almost like little meatballs. Turn down the heat, brown the meat slowly, releasing flavorful oils. Stir merguez while cooking, so they colour on all sides.

When golden, add the harissa, cumin seeds and sliced garlic into the skillet, turn up the heat to medium fry with mixing, for several minutes, until aromatic, and the garlic has lost its raw edge. Tip in the tomatoes, season with salt let it bubble. Reduce to low heat cooking gently for twenty minutes. Sauce will thicken, become richer and darker, while the oils split and rise to the top.

Employ utensil to create four little pockets across base, then crack an egg into each. Dust with salt lightly salted, place lid on pan. Heat for minutes gently, until the whites are set and yolks warmed.

Remove from heat, finish with chopped pickled peppers, parsley and yogurt, and oil splash, with lemon on side.