Binghamton Spiedies Recipe
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My spiedies are cubes of meat that are marinated for many hours, often overnight, usually in oil and vinegar with lots of garlic and green herbs, and then grilled over an open flame with onions and peppers.
Serve with: a big red wine like a Shiraz or Syrah.
Course: , ,
Dinner
Main Course
Sandwich
Cuisine:
Italian
Makes:
Servings: large sandwiches
Takes:
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup My Wife's Italian Vinaigrette or any Italian dressing with lots of herbs (you can add more, especially oregano)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Morton Coarse Kosher Salt
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 pounds leg of lamb or beef sirloin
- 2 large onions
- 2 bell peppers, any color
- 4 pieces of Italian bread, about 6 inches (15cm) long
Notes:
About the meat. You can use pork loin, or even chicken in the recipe, or a mix of them all if you wish.
About the salt. Remember, kosher salt is half the concentration of table salt so if you use table salt, use half as much. Click here to read more about salt and how it works.
Try this. Don Warner of Owego, NY, near Binghamton, says via email "Try using wine as a substitute for the vinegar and taste the difference."
Metric conversion:
These recipes were created in US Customary measurements and the conversion to metric is being done by calculations. They should be accurate, but it is possible there could be an error. If you find one, please let us know in the comments at the bottom of the page
Method
- Prep. Crush the garlic cloves.
- Cut the lamb or beef into 2-inch (5cm) cubes.
- Combine 1/2 cup (115g) of the vinaigrette, the lemon juice, salt, garlic, and meat in a large zipper bag or a bowl and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate at least overnight, but 24 hours or more is better.
- Once the meat is done marinating, remove the ends from the onions, peel, and slice into 1/2-inch (1.25cm) disks. Separated into rings.
- Remove the stem, core, and seeds from the bell peppers and cut into quarters.
- Put a colander or strainer in the sink and dump the meat and marinade into it. Let the meat drain for a few minutes so it will not drip marinade onto the fire when you cook the meat.
- Fire up. Pre-heat the grill for high heat cooking.
- Cook. Split the bread lengthwise and toast on the cut side with the lid open. Watch it carefully so it doesn't burn. If it does blacken a bit, scrape off the char and the bread will be fine. Set aside on a serving platter at room temp.
- Grill the peppers on both sides until they are softening but not limp. Set aside in a serving bowl at room temp.
- Put the onion rings into a bowl with the remaining vinaigrette and toss them together until the rings are well coated. Grill the rings with the lid open until they are slightly soft. I like them a bit crunchy, but if you don't, cook them longer. Set aside in a serving bowl at room temp.
- Place the meat on the grill and separate the chunks so they are not touching. Grill on one side with the lid up until brown and until there are dark grill marks. We don't want the lid down because then the meat will be in an oven and it is too easy to overcook the meat. Turn the meat over with tongs and grill some more until the exterior brown a bit. That should do it. That should get you crispy exteriors and rare to medium rare interiors. A thermometer won't be much help here if the cubes are small. Test by biting into one. Get some grease on your chin. There is nothing drier than an overcooked spiedie, so don't allow that to happen.
- Serve. Assemble the sandwiches by putting the meat on the bread first and topping it with the pepper and onions. Serve with Italian Pesto Potatoes and Caprese Tomato Salad if you can get ripe tomatoes.