Beef Spiedini

My youngest asked if I could make beef spiedini, little beef rolls. She was remembering some of the great food she’d had when she visited her grandparents in Florida a few years ago, including the beef spiedini.  I went online to look for a recipe but they were all a little different than she remembered. Some had cheese stuffed inside. Some had onions. One had tomato.  She remembered them as plain, with just seasoned breadcrumbs so that’s what I went for.  I had some sourdough bread going stale so first thing was to tear into chunks and put it in the food processor to make breadcrumbs. For seasoning, I added fresh parsley, grated Parmesan, garlic powder, and dried rosemary, oregano and thyme, plus a pinch of salt.

I opted to use a top round steak, as they were on sale, but I think you could use any decently tender cut of beef.  I sliced it thinly then pounded it with a mallet to make it even more thin, ending up with strips of beef about 1-2 inches wide and 4 inches long. I brushed a little olive oil on each piece, then pressed a thin layer of the seasoned breadcrumbs onto both sides and rolled them up.  I threaded the rolled up pieces onto skewers, using two skewers so I could turn them easily. (If you use just one, the meat can spin around.)  If you’re using wooden skewers, make sure you soak them in water for at least 30 minutes before threading the spiedini on so the wood doesn’t burn. You can grill or broil them, just 2-3 minutes per side. I opted to grill.

They were delicious!  Little bursts of flavor.  These would be fun to make for a party if you can handle the last minute cooking.  But you could do all the prep ahead of time and refrigerate them until you’re ready to cook.  I had also read that you could freeze them after rolling them up.

Measurements are rough because I was totally winging it.