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So, hear me out: the most delicious egg dishes are made without baking. During recipe development, discovering that covering the pan generates steam to cook the top of the eggs, yielding tender soft-cooked egg with a tender white and flowing center. The intense, dry heat of the oven is much more aggressive than steam, typically causing making dishes dry and harden the yolk. Here are two sauce options as inspiration, encouraging customization. Option one involves a straightforward golden coconut sauce, while the merguez ragu reimagines classic tomato-baked eggs, or, to the likes of you and me, eggs cooked in zesty tomato base.

Turmeric Coconut Curry Steamed Eggs (pictured above)

Preparation 10 minutes
Cook Just under an hour
Serves Two servings

Extra virgin oil
One medium onion, trimmed and minced
Fine sea salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Fresh ginger root, minced ginger
Turmeric powder
½ tbsp cumin seeds
Aromatic leaves
Creamy coconut
Canned chickpeas
Fresh basil, and additional for topping
4 eggs
Green chilies, thinly cut, for serving

Use a heavy skillet over medium-high flame. Drizzle olive oil, toss in the onion seasoned with salt, sauté for several minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds and curry leaves, let them sizzle, occasionally stirring for a few minutes, add coconut milk along with chickpeas and liquid. Let it bubble, reduce to a simmer, let it simmer for half an hour, until thickened and deep yellow in colour. Adjust seasoning, mix in fresh basil.

Use the back of a spoon forming small wells within the sauce, then crack an egg into each. Season eggs with a little salt, then cover the pan with a lid, simmer over low heat briefly, until the whites are set and yolks warmed. Turn off stove, garnish with more basil and sliced chilies, then serve immediately.

Merguez Ragu with Tangy Peppers Steamed Eggs

Prep 10 minutes
Cooking time Under an hour
Yields Two portions

Oil
2 merguez-style lamb sausages
1 tbsp harissa
Toasted cumin
Garlic cloves, sliced thin
Tomato base
Seasoning
Four eggs
Tangy peppers, roughly chopped
Chopped herbs, finely chopped
3 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt
1 lemon, cut into wedges, as garnish

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot on a medium heat. Pour in oil once hot, peel sausages and break off pieces adding to pan, like mini balls. Lower temperature, then slowly brown the sausagemeat, releasing flavorful oils. Stir merguez as they cook, to brown evenly.

After browning, add the harissa, cumin seeds and sliced garlic to the pan, turn up the heat to medium and cook, stirring, for several minutes, until aromatic, and garlic softens. Add tomatoes, season with salt heat to simmer. Reduce to low heat and leave to blip away about 20 minutes. Ragu thickens, thicken and deepen in colour, with oils separating and surfacing.

Employ utensil forming wells within sauce, add eggs individually. Sprinkle the top of each egg with salt, cover skillet. Heat for minutes gently, until the whites are set and yolks warmed.

Remove from heat, garnish with peppers, parsley, a blob of yoghurt, and a drizzle of oil, and serve with lemon wedges.