Two beloved dishes, one versatile side: That's dinner sorted

The Age

13-05-2025

In a dinner showdown between meatballs in tomato sauce and chicken schnitzels with slaw, we call a tie. Add greens, and everyone's a winner.
The thing you notice first about Thomas Straker's recipes is their simplicity.
Both at home, cooking for his young family, and at his London restaurant Straker's, he advocates turning unassuming ingredients into something amazing by doing as little as possible to mess them up.
'More often than not, the simplest way is also the best way, at least when it comes to food,' Straker writes in the introduction to his aptly titled debut cookbook, Food You Want to Eat.
'The best dishes are those where you do as little as possible to the ingredients you're serving and let them sing.'
Here are three guaranteed crowd-pleasers, which use readily available ingredients to stunning effect.
Meatballs
Meatballs come in many different forms: fried ones, poached ones, small ones, big ones, juicy ones … and then the best ones are my ones. These are big, they are juicy and they are covered in a fresh tomato sauce with basil pesto and mountains of parmesan.
INGREDIENTS
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled
leaves from a 30g bunch of parsley
75g dried breadcrumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten
100ml whole milk
300g minced veal
300g minced pork
300g minced beef
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the tomato sauce
80ml extra virgin olive oil
8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 x 400g cans of good-quality tomatoes
1 basil sprig
2 tsp sugar
To serve
4 slices of sourdough bread
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ quantity basil pesto
20g parmesan cheese, finely grated
METHOD
Start by preparing the meatballs. In a food processor, chop the onion, garlic cloves and parsley leaves very finely with 1 teaspoon of fine salt. Once chopped, add the breadcrumbs, egg and milk and blend until it forms a paste; this will bind with the meat, holding the moisture and keeping the meatballs light. Transfer the paste to a large mixing bowl, then add all the meat, along with 50 grinds of black pepper. Mix well with your hands until very well combined. Divide into 12 large balls weighing about 100g each and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Chill in the fridge until ready to use.
Meanwhile, make the sauce. Put the olive oil in a medium-sized pan and add the garlic slices. Set over a medium heat and cook gently for 1-2 minutes until the garlic is translucent, being careful not to burn it. At this point, add the tomatoes, basil sprig and sugar and simmer for 30 minutes.
To cook the meatballs, transfer the tomato sauce to a large, wide-based pan with a lid and place the meatballs in to poach. Cover with a lid and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until cooked through.
At this point, set a griddle pan over a medium-high heat and brush the bread with the olive oil on both sides. Cook until nicely charred on both sides.
To serve, place 3 meatballs per person into warmed bowls and spoon over plenty of the tomato sauce. Add a dollop of pesto over the top, then grate over some parmesan. Serve with the grilled bread, to soak up the extra sauce.
Serves 4
Basil pesto
This world-famous Italian condiment has been around since the 16th century and it's easy to see why it has stood the test of time. Who doesn't love pesto pasta? Pesto can also use a variety of herbs and cheeses, so you could replace the basil with spinach, or the pine nuts with walnuts. I don't use the herb stalks here, because I find using the leaves alone makes for a brighter green pesto.
INGREDIENTS
leaves from a 200g bunch of basil
80g pine nuts, untoasted
1 garlic clove, finely grated
200ml extra virgin olive oil, plus more to seal
60g parmesan cheese, finely grated
sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
METHOD
Put the basil leaves in a food processor with the pine nuts, garlic, olive oil and a good pinch of salt. Blend until combined and you have reached your desired consistency; I like to keep mine slightly coarse in texture. Add the grated parmesan and pulse-blend briefly a couple more times, then season to taste with salt and pepper.
Put the pesto in a sterilised jar, pouring a little extra olive oil over the top to make a seal that will preserve it for longer. Store in the fridge until ready to use; if covered with oil, it should keep for up to 1 week.
Makes about 500g
Tip: To sterilise a jar, preheat the oven to 100C fan-forced (120C conventional) while you clean a jar and lid with hot soapy water. Place both the jar and lid on a baking sheet and put them into the oven for 10 minutes. Leave to cool before potting cold mixtures, or use hot if potting hot mixtures.
Chicken schnitzel, burnt salsa, fennel slaw
There is something quite special about a smashed chicken breast covered in breadcrumbs and fried in oil. This dish is crunchy, juicy and slathered in a sharp, spicy tomato salsa with a refreshing fennel slaw. It was the first recipe video I made during lockdown and it was something I always knew people would connect with.
INGREDIENTS
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
100g plain flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
200g panko crumbs, or a mix of fresh breadcrumbs and panko
vegetable oil
sea salt flakes and freshly cracked
black pepper
1 lemon, cut into wedges, to serve
For the salsa
300g cherry tomatoes
1 onion, roughly chopped
5 garlic cloves, peeled and bashed with the side of a knife blade
1 long red chilli
leaves from 30g bunch of coriander, finely chopped
80ml olive oil
60ml white wine vinegar
For the slaw
2 fennel bulbs, thinly sliced
3 tbsp mayonnaise
juice of 2 lemons
METHOD
Start by preparing the chicken schnitzel. Use a sharp knife to cut each breast horizontally nearly in half, leaving a piece attached so it remains in a single piece, then open it out to butterfly the breasts. Place the first between sheets of clingfilm or baking paper. Gently bash them out one by one with a rolling pin to an even thickness of ½–1cm.
Put the flour, eggs and crumbs into 3 separate shallow bowls and season the flour well. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper ready for the breaded schnitzels to rest on later.
First, dip an escalope into the seasoned flour, shaking off any excess, before passing it through the eggs. Finally, press into the crumbs, applying a little pressure to ensure the whole escalope is coated. Try to keep 1 hand dry at all times by alternating between the wet and dry bowls. Put on to a lined baking tray until ready to cook, then repeat to coat all the schnitzels. If preparing them in advance, be sure to keep the escalopes separate; you can stack them on a plate if each is separated by a sheet of baking paper.
Next, make the salsa. Place a cast-iron or heavy-based pan over a high heat. Once hot, add the whole cherry tomatoes, onion, garlic and chilli and cook for 3–4 minutes until everything is well-charred all over. Remove from the pan and allow to cool, then finely chop. Put in a bowl with the coriander, olive oil, vinegar and salt to taste. Set aside at room temperature.
To make the slaw, mix the fennel, mayonnaise, lemon juice and a generous pinch of salt in a bowl. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt as needed.
Serves 4
Spinach with lemon and parmesan
Simplicity at its finest. You never knew spinach could be so good.
INGREDIENTS
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2-3 garlic cloves, finely grated
400g bunch of spinach, larger leaves if possible
1 lemon
50g parmesan cheese, finely grated
sea salt flakes and freshly cracked black pepper
METHOD
Set a frying pan over a medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook gently for about 30 seconds until softened. Add your spinach to the pan; don't worry if it is still a bit wet from washing, the water will help to steam it. Add a pinch of salt and increase the heat, because you want to cook the spinach quickly to retain its freshness. Cook for 1-2 minutes until wilted, then check the seasoning and add more salt if necessary.
Serve immediately, drizzled with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, a generous squeeze of lemon juice, the grated parmesan and some cracked black pepper.
Serves 4 as a side dish
This is an edited extract from Food You Want to Eat by Thomas Straker. Published by Bloomsbury Publishing. Photography by Issy Croker. RRP $49.99