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Let me explain: the most delicious egg dishes are made without baking. During recipe development, realizing that using a cover creates a steamy environment to cook the top of the eggs, resulting in perfectly cooked soft-cooked egg featuring set whites and flowing center. The intense, dry heat in conventional ovens proves harsher versus moist heat, typically causing making dishes dry and harden the yolk. Here are two sauce options as inspiration, encouraging customization. One is a super-simple golden coconut sauce, and the second offers a merguez ragu puts a twist on traditional spicy eggs, essentially, eggs baked in spicy tomato sauce.

Golden Coconut Sauce Steamed Eggs (pictured above)

Prep 10 minutes
Cook Just under an hour
Yields Two servings

Olive oil
1 onion, trimmed and minced
Sea salt
Two garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Fresh ginger root, grated ginger
Turmeric powder
Cumin seeds
Aromatic leaves
Coconut milk
400g tin chickpeas
Basil leaves, with more for garnish
4 eggs
Green chilies, thinly cut, for serving

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, then tip in the coconut milk including chickpea can contents. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, let it simmer for 30-35 minutes, until thickened and deep yellow in colour. Add salt to taste, mix in fresh basil.

Employ a utensil forming small wells within the sauce, then crack an egg into each. Dust 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. Turn off stove, garnish with more basil and sliced chilies, and serve.

Spicy Sausage Sauce and Pickled Peppers Steamed Eggs

Prep 10 min
Cooking time 45 min
Serves Two

Olive oil
Spicy lamb sausages
Spicy paste
Toasted cumin
Garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
400g good-quality tinned tomatoes
Seasoning
4 eggs
1 handful pickled peppers, roughly chopped
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, diced
Greek yogurt
1 lemon, wedge-cut, as garnish

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot over medium flame. Drizzle olive oil once hot, remove the skins from the sausages forming small bits adding to pan, like mini balls. Turn down the heat, then slowly brown the sausagemeat, extracting spicy fats. Stir merguez as they cook, so they colour on all sides.

Once browned, add the harissa, cumin seeds and sliced garlic to the pan, increase to medium heat and cook, stirring, for several minutes, until aromatic, and the garlic has lost its raw edge. Pour in tomato contents, add seasoning heat to simmer. Reduce to low heat cooking gently about 20 minutes. Ragu thickens, intensify in color, while the oils split and rise to the top.

Use the back of a spoon making indentations within sauce, then crack an egg into each. Dust with salt with salt, place lid on pan. Heat for minutes over a low heat, when eggs set and yolks warmed.

Remove from heat, finish with chopped pickled peppers, parsley, a blob of yoghurt, plus oil drizzle, accompanied by lemon.