This dish celebrates spring abundance in all its beauty and flavor. Feel free to include any spring vegetable, including baby zucchini, artichoke, fennel and asparagus.
If you’re follow the Sephardi law and include legume (kitniyot in Hebrew) in your Passover menu, you can also include fresh fava beans, that are in season now, green pea, spring pea and more.
The only rule to remember is, add tender vegetables, like asparagus and zucchini, and fresh legume, towards the end of the cooking time, so you don’t overcook them.
For the m meatballs, you can use lamb or beef or a combination between the two.
Meatballs in spring vegetables and oregano-lemon sauce
Course: Main courseCuisine: Israeli, JewishDifficulty: Medium4
servings45
minutes1
hour15
minutes300
kcal2
hoursINGREDIENTS
- For the meatballs
½ cup matzo meal, plus more for coating
½ cup water
1 lb. ground beef or lamb
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 small yellow onion, grated
2 minced garlic cloves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon white pepper
- For the vegetables and sauce
Juice of ½ lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
3-4 artichokes or baby artichokes
2 fennel bulbs
1-2 celery root or parsnip
3 sliced garlic cloves
¾ cup olive oil
1 cup lemon juice
1½ cups water
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon white pepper
5-6 springs fresh oregano
1 lb. green and/or white asparagus
1 lb. fresh peeled fava beans or green pea
DIRECTIONS
- To make the meatballs, put matzo meal and water in a medium mixing bowl and mix. Add the rest of the meatball ingredients and mix briefly (mixing too much will make the meatballs harder, that’s true for any recipe). Cover the bowl and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, prepare the veggies. Prepare a large bowl with 3 cups water and juice of ½ lemon. To clean the artichokes, first remove outer leaves from the bottom. Use a serrated knife to cut off the leaves, leaving about 1 inch from the bottom. Dip artichoke in lemon water to prevent it from becoming black. Use a small knife to trim more leaves on the outside until you reveal the artichoke bottom. Now use a spoon to remove the chokes. Peel the stem to reveal the tender white part, cut artichoke in half lengthwise and keep in lemon water until ready to cook. Repeat with the rest of the artichokes. If you’re using baby artichoke, use a serrated knife to cut off the thorny leaves at the top, cut in halt, remove chokes and you’re done.
- Trim off fennel stalks, then cut bulb in half, and each half into 3-4 sections. Peel celery root and cut into 1 inch thick sticks. Set aside. Slice garlic cloves.
- Sprinkle matzo meal on a rimmed baking sheet. Take meatball mixture out of the fridge, form 2 inch meatballs and arrange on matzo meal sprinkled baking sheet. Use your hand to lightly press down meatballs and sprinkle more matzo meal on them.
- Put ¼ cup oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat and fry meatballs (you may need to do it in two batches) until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. transfer to a tray lined with a double layer of paper towels.
- Put ½ cup olive oil in a wide pan or pot over medium-high heat. Add sliced garlic cloves and sauté for a few seconds. Add artichoke, fennel and celery root, mix and sauté for 6-7 minutes. Add lemon juice, water, salt pepper and oregano and bring to boil. Push veggies aside and arrange meatballs at the bottom of the pan. Baste meatballs, bring to boil, then reduce heat to low simmer, cover pan and cook for 30 minutes, basting after 15 minutes.
- While meatballs are cooking, cut asparagus into 1 inch sections, peel fava beans if using. Add asparagus and beans after meatballs have been cooking for 30 minutes, baste, cover pan and cook for another 15 minutes. Sprinkle with more fresh oregano leaves and serve.
