These beef and lamb spiedini gain a vaguely middle-Eastern feel from the herbs used to season them, and are quite refreshing in summer, thanks to a cool yogurt sauce. As you might guess, the recipe is a modern Italian recipe. To serve 4:
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
- 7/8 pound (400 g) lean ground beef
- 1/2 pound (225 g) ground lamb, preferably from the shoulder
- A medium-sized onion, peeled, grated, and squeezed dry
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon chopped pimentos
- 1 2/5 cups (350 ml) plain yogurt
- The juice of a lemon
- 2 tablespoons finely minced parsley
- 2 tablespoons finely minced fresh mint
- A ripe tomato, blanched, peeled, seeded, drained, and chopped finely
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 4 skewers
Preparation:
Combine the meats in a bowl with the onion, cinnamon, coriander and pimentos. Season to taste with salt and pepper, mix well, and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Combine the yogurt, lemon juice, minced parsley, and minced mint, mix well, and chill.
While the meat is chilling, heat your grill. You can use either hardwood coals or gas, as you prefer.
Come time to make the spiedini, moisten your hands. Make meatballs a little more than an inch in diameter (3 cm) of the ground meat mixture and put them on the skewers, squeezing them around the skewers to make them stick.
Lightly oil the spiedini and grill them for about 15 minutes, turning them carefully to brown all sides, and basting them repeatedly.
If you do not have a grill, heat your oven to 400 F (200 C), arrange the skewers over a roasting pan (with the tips and tails of the kebabs on the lips of the pan, so the meat remains suspended, without touching the bottom of the pan), and roast the spiedini for about 15 minutes or until they reach the degree of doneness you prefer, turning them and basting them several times.
While they are cooking, give the yogurt sauce a good stir, and season the chopped tomato with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the tomatoes over the yogurt, and serve the spiedini with their sauce. A wine? Because of the spices in the mea I'd be tempted to go with a white, perhaps a Vernaccia di San Gimignano, which has enough body to work with meats too.
Yield: 4 servings beef and lamb kebabs with yogurt sauce.
Combine the yogurt, lemon juice, minced parsley, and minced mint, mix well, and chill.
While the meat is chilling, heat your grill. You can use either hardwood coals or gas, as you prefer.
Come time to make the spiedini, moisten your hands. Make meatballs a little more than an inch in diameter (3 cm) of the ground meat mixture and put them on the skewers, squeezing them around the skewers to make them stick.
Lightly oil the spiedini and grill them for about 15 minutes, turning them carefully to brown all sides, and basting them repeatedly.
If you do not have a grill, heat your oven to 400 F (200 C), arrange the skewers over a roasting pan (with the tips and tails of the kebabs on the lips of the pan, so the meat remains suspended, without touching the bottom of the pan), and roast the spiedini for about 15 minutes or until they reach the degree of doneness you prefer, turning them and basting them several times.
While they are cooking, give the yogurt sauce a good stir, and season the chopped tomato with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the tomatoes over the yogurt, and serve the spiedini with their sauce. A wine? Because of the spices in the mea I'd be tempted to go with a white, perhaps a Vernaccia di San Gimignano, which has enough body to work with meats too.
Yield: 4 servings beef and lamb kebabs with yogurt sauce.
