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Consider this: the best baked eggs don’t ever hit the oven. When testing these recipes, realizing that using a cover produces a humid atmosphere for cooking the egg tops, delivering a gently cooked delicately prepared egg with a tender white and a warm, runny yolk. The intense, dry heat from baking is much more aggressive versus moist heat, and has a tendency to dry everything out and harden 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 is a riff on classic tomato-baked eggs, or simply put, eggs baked in spicy tomato sauce.

Golden Coconut Sauce Baked Eggs (pictured above)

Preparation A quick 10 minutes
Cook 55 min
Yields Two people

Extra virgin oil
One medium onion, skinned and diced
Salt
Two garlic cloves, minced garlic
10g fresh ginger, minced ginger
1 tbsp ground turmeric
Toasted cumin
6-8 curry leaves
Coconut milk
400g tin chickpeas
Basil leaves, plus extra to serve
Fresh eggs
Green chilies, finely sliced, for serving

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot at moderate-high temperature. Pour in some oil, add the chopped onion seasoned with salt, and cook for five to six minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds and curry leaves, let them sizzle, mixing now and then briefly, then tip in the coconut milk including chickpea can contents. Heat until boiling, then turn down to a simmer, and leave it to tick over about 35 minutes, until thick and golden. Add salt to taste, mix in fresh basil.

Use the back of a spoon forming small wells within the sauce, then crack an egg into each. Sprinkle the top of each egg with a little salt, then cover the pan with a lid, gently heat for two to three minutes, until the whites are set with yolks still runny. Remove from heat, top with fresh herbs and thinly sliced finger chillies, and serve.

Merguez Ragu and Pickled Peppers Baked Eggs

Prep 10 minutes
Cook Under an hour
Yields Two portions

Olive oil
Spicy lamb sausages
Harissa paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
400g good-quality tinned tomatoes
Salt
Four eggs
1 handful pickled peppers, diced
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced
3 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt
Fresh lemon, cut into wedges, for serving

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot at moderate temperature. Drizzle olive oil when heated, peel sausages and break off pieces adding to pan, resembling tiny meatballs. Turn down the heat, brown the meat slowly, releasing flavorful oils. Move sausage pieces during cooking, to brown evenly.

Once browned, incorporate harissa, cumin, and garlic to the pan, increase to medium heat fry with mixing, for several minutes, until aromatic, with garlic cooked. Add tomatoes, salt to taste let it bubble. Reduce to low heat and simmer slowly about 20 minutes. Ragu thickens, intensify in color, as oils separate.

With a spoon to create four little pockets within sauce, add eggs individually. Season eggs lightly salted, place lid on pan. Cook for two to three minutes on low flame, until the whites are set and yolks warmed.

Take off the heat, garnish with peppers, parsley, a blob of yoghurt, plus oil drizzle, and serve with lemon wedges.