Chicken Meatballs, Potatoes and Lemon | Ottolenghi Comfort

It’s a tall order to make a dish for a crowd that everyone would enjoy — using everyday ingredients. Here, a scalable one-pot wonder with the power to comfort and delight seems to offer all the solutions. Chicken and potatoes are easygoing and comply with the needs and tastebuds of most eaters. Together, chicken meatballs, potatoes and lemon will satisfy the discerning palate of food lovers of all stripes. Ottolenghi adeptly adds a citrus twist to the overall flavor with lemon peels and lemon juice, which brighten the dish immensely.

Yotam Ottolenghi’s idea of comfort can be easily embodied in a meatball. The Hebrew word of ktsitsa covers meatballs, patties, fritters. A ktsitsa can be veggie or meaty, poached or fried, stuffed into pita or served on a plate.

In all these cases, the unique texture of the meatballs is crucial. They are chewy, bouncy with a slight give. The addition of starch from the potatoes does the trick. Serve the meatballs in a lemon-flavored broth, which becomes a little thicker from the potatoes, with rice, bulgur or couscous. The dish is substantial enough to be the main course serving a large crowd.

Once you put together the meatballs, the rest of the dish comes together easily. Make the meatballs ahead of time or make a large batch of them; now you’re in business. Place the green onions, mint, cilantro, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and blitz until they are finely chopped. Then combine the mixture with the remaining ingredients: chicken, potatoes, spices, breadcrumbs and egg with your hands. Shape into meatballs the size of a golf ball.

For me, the tricky part is the other ingredients: ground chicken and finely grated potatoes. Ground chicken can be purchased from the store, unless you’re like me, who prefers freshly grounded chicken from raw pieces of chicken thigh. In addition, you also need peeled and finely grated potatoes and wrung dry in a clean towel; that requires time and effort. To make it worthwhile, my advice is to make a large batch of the meatballs and save some for later.

Equally important is the broth. First make the aromatic base with onion, celery chunks and lemon strips. Sauté until softened. Add the potato chunks and garlic cloves. Then put in the spices: turmeric, cumin cinnamon, together with chicken stock and lemon juice. Bring to a simmer. Finally, add the previously-seared meatballs in the broth on low heat until they are thoroughly cooked.

Once you taste these chicken meatballs in the lemony broth, you’d want to include this recipe in your repertoire of crowd-pleasing one-dish wonders.

Print Recipe

Chicken Meatballs, Potatoes and Lemon

By Yotam Ottolenghi – Serves: 4

Ingredients

FOR THE MEATBALLS:
4 greens onions (1/2 cup/40g), roughly chopped
3/4 cup/15g mint leaves
1/2 oz/15g cilantro leaves and stems
2 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste
1 lb 2 oz/500g ground chicken
1 egg, beaten
15 oz/425g (about a heaping cup/250g), red-skinned potatoes, peeled and finely grated and wrung dried
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 cup/30g breadcrumbs (fresh or panko)
2 tbsp olive oil, for frying
salt and pepper
YOGURT SAUCE:
1/2 cup/150g Greek yogurt
1/2 cup/10g mint leaves
1/2 oz/10g cilantro leaves and stems
BROTH:
3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to finish
1 large onion (1 3/4 cup/200g), thinly sliced
4-5 celery stalks (2 cups/200g), cut into 3/4-inch chunks, leaves roughly chopped
2 lemons, shave the zest to get strips, then juice to get 1/4 cup/60 ml
1 lb 3 oz/550g (2 cups/450 g), red-skinned potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/4-inch/3 cm chunks
8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups/480 ml chicken stock or water
1 tsp granulated sugar
3/4 oz/20g cilantro leaves and stems, roughly chopped

Instructions

MAKE THE MEATBALLS: Place the green onions, mint, cilantro and garlic in the small bowl of a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Scrape out into a medium bowl and add the remaining ingredients, except the oil, along with 1 1/2 tsp of salt and plenty of pepper. Mix well and, with wet hands, shape into 16 balls, roughly a 1 3/4 oz/50g each. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm up.

MAKE THE YOGURT SAUCE: Put all the ingredients for the yogurt sauce into a small food processor bowl, along with 1/4 tsp of salt and a little pepper. Blitz until smooth. Transfer to a small serving bowl and set aside in the fridge.

SEAR THE MEATBALLS: Put 2 tbsp of oil into a large sauté pan, for which you have a lid, under medium heat. Once hot, sear the meatballs well on all sides for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.

MAKE THE BROTH: Into the same pan, add 3 more tbsp of olive oil. Add the onion, celery, lemon strips, 1 tsp of salt and a good grind of pepper. Sauté for 7 minutes, to soften, then add the potatoes and garlic and sauté for another 7 minutes, until beginning to brown. Add the spices and cook for 1 minute, then add the lemon juice, chicken stock, sugar and celery leaves.

PUT IT ALL TOGETHER: Bring the stock to a simmer, then carefully place the meatballs in the broth. Simmer on low heat, covered, for 25-30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through and the liquid has thickened slightly. Remove from the heat, carefully stir in the cilantro, and set aside to rest for 5 minutes.

SERVE: Drizzle the meatballs with oil and spoon some of the yogurt sauce on top, serving the rest on the side.