Versatile and tasty, these skewers are spring cooking made simple
On a warm day, this is the perfect meal to grill and enjoy in the open air.
Nothing tells the story of a place quite like its local market. It’s the first place I go whenever I arrive somewhere new – a way to immerse myself in the season, the flavours and the rhythms of local life. Even when staying in a hotel, I can’t resist buying produce – it’s an uncontrollable urge. On a recent trip to Rome I walked away with fatty porchetta, glistening cherry tomatoes, creamy buffalo mozzarella, Amalfi lemons, Italian greens, and focaccia dripping in olive oil. With nowhere to prepare anything, I ended up making a snack plate on a paper bag, right on the sidewalk. There aren’t many moments you’d find me happier.
Italian butcher shops are always a highlight for me. Their pride and passion are evident in the displays – not an abundance of identical cuts, but a thoughtful selection from one or two whole animals. This approach, focusing on quality and tradition, inspires me. In Rome, I was reminded of my love for spiedini, Italian for skewers, which vary depending on family recipes, seasonality or personal tastes.
My version involves thinly sliced beef, coated in Parmigiano Reggiano breadcrumbs, rolled up involtini-style, and skewered with bay leaves, sausage chunks, and zucchini ribbons rolled to mimic the beef. This is a dish where you will really taste and smell the beauty of bay leaves, often underestimated for what they bring to a dish. Like the Italian butchers, you can play around with the ingredients – capsicums, peppers, mushrooms or even bread. The meat can also be swapped out to your preference; chicken, lamb, pork – make it your way. Sausage adds extra flavour and texture, but that’s entirely up to you. Just keep in mind cooking times – onions, for example, often need more time to soften and caramelise than the meat does. A squeeze of lemon is all they need when serving. On a warm day, they’re the perfect meal to grill and enjoy in the open air.
Eat this with my spring asparagus salad.
Beef & sausage skewers
I’ve used bay leaf twigs to skewer my spiedini, but bamboo skewers work well. The number of each component on a skewer is up to you – here, I’ve repeated each ingredient three times, which gave me six skewers.
Ingredients
- 230g (about 3) fat Italian pork sausages
- 2 medium zucchinis
- 500-600g steak, such as New York cut or sirloin, roughly 4cm thick
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 ½ cups breadcrumbs
- ½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated
- Salt and pepper
- 18-20 bay leaves
- Lemon wedges, to serve
Method
- Start by squeezing out green olive-sized chunks of sausage meat and set them aside. Using a peeler, finely slice the zucchinis into strips, then roll each strip up and set them aside. Next, trim the fat from the side of the steak and cut it horizontally into thin slices, roughly 1cm thick. Depending on the width of the steak, you should end up with slices around 8-10cm long. Lay the slices between two sheets of parchment paper and use a rolling pin or meat mallet to pound them to about ½ cm thick.
- Pour the olive oil into a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs, Parmigiano Reggiano, and a generous amount of salt and pepper. To crumb the beef slices, take one slice at a time, coat it completely in the olive oil, shake off the excess, then press it into the breadcrumb mixture until well coated. Shake off any extra crumbs, roll up the beef slice, and place it on a tray.
- Repeat until all the beef slices are coated.
- To assemble the spiedini, start by threading one rolled beef slice onto a skewer, followed by a bay leaf, a chunk of sausage meat, a rolled zucchini strip, and then repeat in that order. I usually get three of each component on each skewer, but feel free to adjust depending on the size and amount of your ingredients. There’s no right or wrong way to do this.
- Preheat your BBQ or a large cast-iron skillet to medium-high. Brush each skewer gently with olive oil and sear them in batches if needed, cooking for 3 to 4 minutes per side or until browned and cooked through. Serve on a platter with lemon wedges. Makes 6 skewers