Chicken meatballs with preserved lemon and harissa relish

The relish recipe will make more than needed but it is completely delicious and lasts in the fridge for a couple of weeks at least. Serve it with roasted vegetables, grilled chicken or slow-cooked lamb. Commercial harissa varieties can vary. If yours isn’t very spicy, add a bit of cayenne pepper to it to enhance the kick.

• serves

  4

• prep

  25 minutes

• cook

  25 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 whole corn cob, husk removed
• 60 ml (¼ cup) olive oil
• 35 g crustless white bread, roughly torn, soaked in water for 2–3 minutes, drained and squeezed
• 500 g chicken mince
• 1 small onion, grated (60 g net)
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 15 g coriander, chopped
• 7 g parsley, finely chopped
• 1½ tsp ground cumin
• 1 small red chilli, finely diced
• 1 medium egg, lightly beaten
• ½ tsp salt
• black pepper

Lemon and harissa relish

• 2 preserved lemons, flesh and skin sliced into thin strips (220 g net)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2¼ tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp harissa paste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

To prepare the corn, heat a chargrill (ridged griddle) pan on high heat. Allow it to heat up well. Brush the corn with 2 tsp of the olive oil and chargrill, turning regularly, for 8–10 minutes, or until it has lots of dark charred specks and the corn turns smoky. Remove from the heat, and when cool enough to handle, use a large, sharp knife to shave the corn off the cob. Place the kernels in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

To make the relish, mix together the ingredients in a medium bowl. Set aside.

To make the meatballs, add the bread, chicken, onion, garlic, herbs, cumin, chilli, egg, salt and a generous grind of black pepper to the bowl with the corn. Stir the ingredients until well combined. Lightly moisten your hands with some of the olive oil, take 60 g portions of mixture, and form into round meatballs. Place on a tray lined with baking paper.

Return the chargrill pan to a high heat. Once hot, cook meatballs for 1–2 minutes on each side, or until visibly charred and lifting up easily from pan. Return to the baking tray and place in the oven for 6 minutes, or until cooked through.

Serve the meatballs warm with the relish.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.