Unballed Chicken with Lemon & Kale

Earmarked this recipe for allergy-friendly Boston cookings:

Recipe

2 shallots, minced
1 scallion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 lb ground chicken
1 lemon, thinly sliced, seeds removed
2 c chicken broth
olive oil
salt & pepper

Heat a tbsp of oil in a pot or large, deep skillet.  Add one shallot, plus the scallion, garlic, and red pepper. Cook until soft and fragrant.  Next, add about a third of the chicken and cook through, breaking up and mixing in.  Transfer to a bowl, and mix in the remaining chicken with some salt and pepper.  Clump into about 8 (soft, loose) meatballs, 2+ inches each.  Wipe out your pot/skillet and heat another tbsp oil, brown your meatballs on all sides, and set them aside.  Cook the lemon with the remaining shallot a couple minutes, then add broth and meatballs back in.  Cover and simmer until meatballs cook through, then add kale and braise about 5 minutes until tender and bright green.  Season, divide, and serve.

Notes

As expected, with no binding agent (egg, bread crumbs, etc.), the meatballs ended up more as loose clumps that either fell apart as we put them in the skillet or would have as soon as we tried to pick them up and turn them.  So, we broke them up and ended up with more of a chili or soup.  And no regrets!  It simplified the process a bit - once the meat is browning, add the lemon, then broth, then kale.  And in the end it was still delicious!  The lemon tang goes great with the meat, and kale is always a nice element.