Latest news with #Straker's
The Age
13-05-2025
- General
- The Age
Two beloved dishes, one versatile side: That's dinner sorted
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
Sydney Morning Herald
13-05-2025
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
Two beloved dishes, one versatile side: That's dinner sorted
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
Irish Times
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Róisín Ingle: Making friends in your 50s is an adventure – you just have to grasp that nettle
A new friend was making dinner in between Scrabble games. It turns out Cormac, who is infuriatingly good at Scrabble, can also cook. He was wearing a pink-and-white striped apron and standing at his stove lost in quiet concentration. I watched him open a tub of sour cream, spoon a small amount of it into the mismatched china cups he'd filled with soup and carefully bring them over to the table. Nettle soup, he told us. I raised the delicate cup to my nose. It smelled like a meditation retreat I'd been on once. He'd picked the nettles from his garden and with some help from Darina Allen made a delicious green concoction that tasted mildly medicinal, in a good way. Cormac says everyone should let nettles grow in their gardens, if you're lucky enough to have one, or in window boxes or pots. He says butterflies lay their eggs on them and that nettles put nitrogen into the soil. He knows a lot about nettles. He also makes apple jelly and fermented pears. And he is far too good for my liking at Scrabble. I don't know much more about him yet. New friends are exciting like that. Another new friend, MK, is someone I meet in London every so often or in Dublin when she is over here. She's decades younger than me, which I find invigorating. She's older than me in some ways too. Wise from life experiences I've not had. She knows about Mulberry bags and where to find the best charity shops. There's something ancient and deep about her. Olde worlde. She knows about Georgian architecture and renovation. New friends are teachers. The best kind. [ Donal Skehan's recipe for nettle soup Opens in new window ] We're in that romantic friendship stage when everything is fascinating and there is always more to discover. We laugh a lot and she tells me about restaurants in London I absolutely have to try. That's how we ended up in Straker's in Notting Hill eating mussel flatbreads, which my teenagers – who mostly choose chicken wings when we go out to eat – declared was the best thing they'd ever put in their mouths. She told us about Julie's restaurant, where The Beatles used to hang out back in the day and where King Charles had his stag night. I dragged her to the leafy West London road where I'd discovered my great-grandfather once lived. She seemed as invested as I was which made me happy and she took photos of me at the door my great-grandfather had been carried through as a baby. READ MORE I'm enjoying the mystery of new friendship. Making friends in your 50s is an adventure. MK with her red lipstick and infectious laughter. Cormac with his apple jelly and nettle soup. You can't ask them too many questions at first – you don't want to scare them off. The information comes incrementally. His lyrical children's names. How he met his wife. She doesn't remember their first meeting. He can't forget it; the moment is burned on his brain. He was walking up a set of stairs and she was coming down the same set of stairs wearing an extremely short skirt. You don't forget these encounters. Not if you are the one going up the stairs The Scrabble tournament is monthly now, on a Wednesday. It moves from house to house, dinner is included in the evening's activity and there's a hefty cash prize for the first person who reaches 2,000 points. Old friend Trevor brought a bottle of red and old friend Gerry brought his fancy rotating Scrabble board and the latest edition of the Scrabble dictionary. Our 'bible'. No more searching up 'is 'farad' a valid Scrabble word?' on the internet. (It is. Cormac put the word down and of course we challenged it. But he knew what it meant, a unit of electrical capacitance named after Faraday. See? Infuriating. One of these months, I will beat him. I will.) In Nettles, a poem by Vernon Scannell, the poet recalls a memory of his son falling into a nettle bed in the garden. 'Bed seemed a curious name for those green spears.' There was no place to rest in this bed, that 'regiment of spite behind the shed'. Scannell's son was distraught. Reading the poem I was reminded of how nettle stings can be traumatic for a child. I saw my own small legs as a girl, having fallen into a nettle patch, white marks appearing on livid skin. I remembered the flowering of a special kind of pain that comes from accidental encounters with those singular leaves. In the poem, Scannell recalls how the pain eventually subsided to the point where his son could give him a 'watery grin'. The relief. That feeling when a child realises that stings fade. [ Róisín Ingle: I have a list in my head of unwritten letters. Now I will write them Opens in new window ] Meanwhile, protective father Scannell was furious and took a freshly sharpened blade to the nettles behind the shed until there was no trace of them left. Two weeks later, thanks to 'the busy sun and rain' the nettles were back with a vengeance. The final line of the poem is a life lesson, a reminder: 'My son would often feel sharp wounds again.' Nettles, like new friends, are teachers. Cormac says to pick the nettles now, grasp them while they are still tender and the season of Bealtaine is upon us. He says wear gloves to avoid stings and wash the nettles thoroughly. And then? Make tea. Make soup. Make friends.
Time Out
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
This viral British chef is opening his first NYC restaurant in SoHo
Butter-loving, TikTok-famous British chef Thomas Straker is officially crossing the pond. The viral sensation behind Notting Hill hotspot Straker's has signed a lease in Soho, taking over the long-vacant space that once housed Keith McNally's beloved Lucky Strike (RIP, 59 Grand Street). That is all to say: if you've ever drooled over one of Straker's chicken liver parfaits or flatbreads via Instagram, you may soon be able to taste the hype IRL. Straker first confirmed the news via Instagram story, calling the spot his 'new home in NYC' and revealing plans to bring his signature energy—bumping playlists and that no-skimp-on-the-fat cooking style—to Lower Manhattan. View this post on Instagram A post shared by THOMAS STRAKER (@thomas_straker) 'We're cooking over charcoal, we've got a big pizza oven and we'll do our signature flatbreads,' Straker said to Time Out. While the exact name of the restaurant hasn't been confirmed yet, it's clear the ethos will mirror that of the culinary guru's London flagship: seasonal ingredients, flavor-forward plates and a dash of rockstar swagger. 'We'll have to do an incredible amount of sourcing out in the States, finding the best ingredients we can possibly buy,' Straker said, noting his farm-raised roots in the U.K. View this post on Instagram A post shared by THOMAS STRAKER (@thomas_straker) Although exciting, the news isn't exactly surprising: the chef, whose pandemic-era butter videos launched him into Internet stardom (including over two million followers on both TikTok and Instagram), held a sold-out East Village pop-up in October, teasing a full-blown Stateside expansion. 'New Yorkers are super discerning,' he said. 'They eat out constantly. So the pressure's on, but the pressure's on anywhere.' Straker's takeover of the former Lucky Strike comes with a healthy dose of nostalgia. 'I've heard so many stories about people spending hours at Lucky Strike,' he said. 'We aim to do it justice and do ourselves justice by creating a space that really works.'
