Chicken and Olive Patties in Lemon Sauce with homemade chicken stock

👨‍🍳 Method

For the homemade chicken stock ✓ Homemade · or skip – back to store-bought

1. 1
   Put the chicken, the onion, carrot, celery, parsley, bay leaves and peppercorns and the water in a pot and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam that rises during the first 15 minutes with a spoon.

   StovePot
2. 2
   Turn down and simmer gently 2.5–3 hours.

   Stove

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.
3. 3
   Strain the stock.

   Colander

For the Meatball mix

1. 4
   Mix the ground chicken with the onion, garlic, egg, breadcrumbs, cumin, olives, salt and black pepper until evenly combined.
2. 5
   With wet hands, shape patties the size of walnut.

   💡Wet hands don't stick to the mixture, and the patties come out smooth and even.

To assemble

1. 6
   Heat the oil in a pan and brown the meatballs 3–4 minutes per side.

   StoveFrying pan

   💡What you brown (meat, patties, schnitzel) goes into hot oil: in lukewarm oil it soaks it up and comes out greasy. For onion and garlic that you soften, oil heated over medium or low heat is enough; do not wait for it to smoke.
2. 7
   Pour off the excess oil from the pan, pour in the stock, lemon juice and lemon zest and bring to a boil.

   Stove
3. 8
   Return the meatballs to the sauce in the pan. Turn down the heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked and the sauce thickens.

   StoveFrying panLid

   💡Drop the meatballs into boiling sauce and don't stir at first: that way they firm up and keep their shape.
4. 9
   Serve with the sauce, hot, alongside white rice.