Coconut Turmeric Curry and Spicy Sausage Sauce: Ben Lippett's Baked Eggs Recipes

Consider this: the most delicious egg dishes don’t ever hit the oven. Through culinary experiments, realizing that using a cover creates a steamy environment for cooking the egg tops, yielding tender perfectly poached egg with a tender white and flowing center. The intense, dry heat of the oven proves harsher versus moist heat, typically causing to dry everything out and harden the yolk. Here are two sauce options as inspiration, but get creative. Option one involves a straightforward turmeric coconut curry, whereas the spicy sausage sauce puts a twist on eggs in purgatory, essentially, eggs cooked in zesty tomato base.

Turmeric Coconut Curry Baked Eggs (shown above)

Prep 10 minutes
Cook 55 minutes
Serves Two people

Olive oil
One medium onion, skinned and diced
Salt
Two garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Fresh ginger root, minced ginger
Turmeric powder
Toasted cumin
Aromatic leaves
Creamy coconut
Canned chickpeas
Fresh basil, with more for garnish
Fresh eggs
2 green finger chillies, julienned, to serve

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot on a medium-high heat. Add a shot of olive oil, toss in the onion seasoned with salt, sauté for several minutes. Incorporate aromatics and spices, leave to sizzle, mixing now and then briefly, add coconut milk including chickpea can contents. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer, allow to cook slowly about 35 minutes, when sauce is rich and yellow. Season with salt, incorporate basil.

Use the back of a spoon to create four little pockets across the base, then crack an egg into each. Dust each egg lightly salted, then cover the pan with a lid, gently heat briefly, when whites are cooked and the yolks just warm. Turn off stove, garnish with more basil and sliced chilies, ready to enjoy.

Merguez Ragu and Pickled Peppers Baked Eggs

Preparation 10 min
Cook 45 min
Serves Two

Olive oil
2 merguez-style lamb sausages
1 tbsp harissa
Cumin seeds
2 garlic cloves, sliced thin
Tomato base
Seasoning
4 eggs
Pickled peppers, roughly chopped
Fresh parsley, finely chopped
3 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt
Fresh lemon, sliced into wedges, as garnish

Heat a skillet on a medium heat. Drizzle olive oil and, once it’s warm, peel sausages forming small bits adding to pan, resembling tiny meatballs. Reduce heat, cook until golden, so it renders out all that spicy, flavour-packed fat. Stir merguez during cooking, so they colour on all sides.

When golden, mix in spices and garlic to the pot, turn up the heat to medium and cook, stirring, briefly, until aromatic, and garlic softens. Add tomatoes, salt to taste and bring to a simmer. Reduce to low heat and simmer slowly about 20 minutes. Ragu thickens, thicken and deepen in colour, with oils separating and surfacing.

Employ utensil to create four little pockets within sauce, break eggs in. Season eggs with a little salt, then cover the pan with a lid. Heat for minutes gently, until the whites are set and yolks warmed.

Turn off stove, finish with chopped pickled peppers, herbs, yogurt dollop, and a drizzle of oil, accompanied by lemon.