Spiedini

Spiedini is a Sicilian style grilled skewered meatball recipe that uses fresh pecorino cheese parsley, garlic and pancetta with the meatballs.  These meatballs are definitely hard to beat when it comes to taste, as with each bite you have it is like a mini explosion inside your mouth.  Eating these reminded me of the movie Ratatouille when Remy, the rat with a natural culinary expertise, is trying to explain how the combination of foods enhance each other to his brother who is your more traditional rat when it comes to food.

I did modify the recipe from it's original form as it called for putting the pancetta on the skewers directly, instead I finely diced up the pancetta and put it inside the meatballs itself.  I think this really helped improve the flavor of the meatballs themselves.

To make the recipe you will need to take the ground beef, egg, pecorino, bread crumbs, parsley, garlic, pancetta, salt, and pepper to taste an knead them in a bowl till the ingredients are well mixed.  Once they are well mixed form the meatballs into walnut-sized balls and place on a dish, cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  This is to help keep the meatballs from breaking them as you skewer and grill them.

After the 30 minutes is up,  you will want to double skewer the meatballs with a piece of bread between each meatball.  Best way to do this is to hold the 2 skewers parallel to each other about 1/2 inch apart from each other.

Prepare the grill for medium direct grilling.  Place the meatballs on the grill and turn and baste the skewers with olive oil occasionally.  They should cook for about 15 to 20 minutes until the meat and bread are golden brown.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound double ground beef (ask the butcher to double ground or use a food processor)
• 1 large egg beaten
• 1/2 cup pecorino cheese, freshly grated
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons Italian parsley, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 loaf French or Italian bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 4 ounces pancetta, finely diced
• Skewers
• Olive oil

Recipe adapted from Grill Italian by Clifford A. Wright.