Ancestry Magazine

My grandmother Francesca Calandra arrived at Ellis Island on 16 April 1912 from Palermo, Italy, and eventually settled in St. Louis. Like many Italian immigrants, Francesca brought with her traditions—including food. And, most importantly, a recipe that has evolved into a special holiday dish my family calls spedini.

The main ingredients are simple: veal, tomatoes, breadcrumbs, onion, garlic, cheese, and a tantalizing mixture of herbs—staples of Sicily. To Americans, it’s a shish-kabob, but in Southern Italy this dish is also known as braciola, brusciuluna, or involtini, signifying rolled meat. Why rolled? Italy was a poor country. Stretching the pantry meant fudging with ingredients; wrapping meat around bread and cheese could make a meal go further.

Through the years, spedini has been served as a special dish at the Russo family table on holidays such as Christmas and Easter. Never once did we consider that this was, like most Italian cuisine, a poor-man’s dish. Incidentally, when my aunt, Theresa Di Rocco gave me this recipe, she informed me that all good Sicilians leave one ingredient out of a recipe. But she assured me this time, that was not the case.

Sicilian Spedini: Russo Family Recipe

The Meat

Request from your local butcher “eye of the round” steak—veal or beef—a thinly sliced piece 3–4 inches in diameter. Have the butcher tenderize the meat until it is about ¼ inch thick or pound the meat to tenderize it yourself. You’ll need approximately 50 pieces of meat.

Make a bowl of olive oil with a bit of pressed garlic, finely chopped parsley, and freshly squeezed lemon juice (2–3 lemons) to taste. This mixture will be used later to dip the meat.

The Breadcrumbs

• 4 cups breadcrumbs

• 2 cups grated cheese (½ Parmesan and ½ Romano)

• A couple of handfuls of finely chopped parsley

• A few cloves of garlic (finely chopped)—add to taste

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.

The Filling (Mudiga)

• 1 cup finely chopped onion (white onion is preferable)

• 6 cloves of garlic

• 2 cups chopped canned tomatoes

Sauté onion and garlic in a little olive oil until they are transparent. Add chopped tomatoes and cook down. Season the mixture with a salt and pepper and simmer for 5–10 minutes. Remove from stove and cool.

Other Things You Will Need

• 5–10 wooden or metal skewers

• Whole dried bay leaves

• Slices of white onion

Count out one bay leaf for each piece of rolled meat. (Soak bay leaves in olive oil overnight in order to prevent them from breaking when put on the skewers.) Cut an equal number of onion slices.

Assembling the Spedini

After the mudiga (filling) has cooled, add some of the breadcrumb mixture to it a little at a time until you have a slightly sticky mixture—not dry. You should have a small bowl of crumbs remaining.

Dip each piece of meat in the olive oil mixture and fill each with the tomato mixture. Use remaining breadcrumbs to bread each piece of meat after it is rolled to create the spedini.

Place an onion, then a bay leaf and finally a spedini on your skewer; repeat this process until your skewer is filled.

Dip each completed skewer in breadcrumbs again, then either grill or broil until cooked. Drizzle olive oil mixture over the spedini as they cook. After the meat is cooked and the filling is warmed through, remove spedini from skewers, eat, and enjoy. Mangia!