Turmeric coconut curry and merguez ragu: Ben Lippett’s recipes for baked eggs

When it comes to mouthwatering baked eggs, you don’t really need the oven. Just reach for a lid and let the steam do its work

So, hear me out: the best baked eggs don’t ever hit the oven … When testing these recipes, I found that simply adding a lid creates a steamy environment to cook the top of the eggs, delivering a gently cooked, perfectly poached egg with a tender white and a warm, runny yolk. The intense, dry heat of the oven is much more aggressive than steam, and has a tendency to dry everything out and overcook the yolk. I’ve given you two sauces as a jumping-off point, but get creative. One is a super-simple turmeric coconut curry, while the merguez ragu is a riff on eggs in purgatory, or, to the likes of you and me, eggs baked in spicy tomato sauce.