Fast Diet Program

I'm a long-time fan of Israeli-born chef Yotam Ottolenghi.  I have all his cookbooks and love his signature style of cooking with an emphasis on Middle Eastern flavors and herbs.  So when I saw a recipe for Turkey and Zucchini Burgers with Green Onion and Cumin in Jerusalem, I couldn't wait to experiment with it.  And then I tried over and over and over again to get the recipe to work as Turkey-Zucchini Meatballs, and no matter what I did my meatballs fell completely apart when I tried to cook them. 

If the flavor combinations in this recipe hadn't been such a wow for me, I would have just given up on the idea, but I devoured every batch of meatballs that wasn't quite blog-worthy (and definitely not photo-worthy), so I kept pondering what made my meatballs so fragile compared to the burger patties in the book.  And I'm glad I persevered and cracked the meatballs code, because the final version of this recipe was such a keeper.  I did three important things to get the recipe to work as meatballs in my American kitchen.