Hello Summer.....Hello Spiedis!

Today is Memorial Day. Although it's about remembering those who have served our country, which would include more than a few of my uncles and some of my cousins and.....oh yeah....my brother, it is celebrated as the first day of summer fun. People all over are dodging the storms and tornadoes to light up the grill and throw on the hot dogs and hamburgers.
I think as a child, summer is "freedom"! Freedom from school and homework and the cold that keeps you indoors. At least that's how it was when I was growing up. Nowadays kids spend far too much time in the air conditioning exercising their thumbs on some video games instead of running outside to play.
Also, the food is amazing. My husband, who has been on seven day weeks for the past month or so had a long weekend. He spent most of the time working on putting our garden in. The tomatoes and peppers and squash and cucumbers and this year lettuce. The fresh vegetable are wonderful.
My all time favorite is something that takes me back to Endicott, where every summer we went around the 4th of July for a family reunion. There, my aunts and cousins would pull out the metal skewers and begin the long task of skewering lamb, pork, beef, and chicken that had been marinating for days. The smell, while it is grilling is enough to drive a person crazy, but that first bite is the best and then after that it just gets better.
Spiedis!
In Endicott there are actually places called "char pits" where you could get a spiedi sub. Last time we were there I went in and asked if they had lamb spiedis and this young girl looked at me like I was some kind of idiot. "No!" she said with an attitude. Apparently, chicken and pork are the way to go, but I still prefer beef and lamb.
We have family movies that show my grandfather sitting with his straw hat on behind a homemade charcoal grill constructed out of cement blocks. The long skewers cradled by the blocks, the smoke rising and wafting through the neighborhood. In Endicott, most people were probably making them. Here in Ohio, people just wondered what that great smell was.
Although our family name is Salamida, we are not directly related to the famous Salamidas that make Salamida's Spiedi Sauce. I heard that they were fifth or sixth (or so) cousins. I have bought this stuff on line just so I could give it away for Christmas.
When it isn't available, (I haven't seen it in these parts, but I did buy some in Florida about 11 years ago), I use Italian salad dressing. Any dressing. And then I add sliced garlic and other seasonings. Mint is very good, although I didn't have any this time, and actually, it's best with lamb. But other Italian seasonings will do. Be creative. Parsley, oregano, basil, rosemary.....they're all good.
The key to good spiedis is the longer they marinate the better they are. I bought my meat on Friday, cut it into 1 inch (or so) cubes and put it and my marinade into Ziploc bags in the frig. So it's been in there for four days. I've never had it go bad, I think the marinade keeps it from turning.
We use to use metal skewers. The last time I used mine, it was to help my neighbor jimmy the lock of his car door because he locked his keys inside. It worked well, but was never the same. These days it's just as easy to use wooden skewers. And you want to spray them with a non-stick spray before you begin to put the meat on them. This will work wonders. When we were kids getting the meat off of the skewers was so hard that sometimes it would slip and fly across the table. Spraying the skewer will help prevent putting someones eye out with a piece of beef.

Spiedis

1-2 pounds of meat - cut into about 1 inch cubes
(beef, chicken, pork, venison, lamb....etc. whatever you prefer)
1/2 to 1 - 16 oz. jar of spiedi sauce or Italian dressing
As much sliced garlic as you like.
Italian seasonings
Wooden skewers sprayed with non-stick spray

Throw all ingredients into a Ziploc bag and let marinate for 24 hrs - 3 days (in the frig). You may also do them way ahead of time and freeze them. Then thaw them the day before. They will still be good and if you are doing it for a crowd, it will save you some time.
Stick about 4-7 pieces on a skewer. Place on medium heat on the grill and WATCH CLOSELY! Cook them to your "likes" (rare, medium, well done).
An easy way to take them off of the skewer is to take a piece of bread and palm the meat with the bread (wrapping it around the meat while it's still on the skewer) and pull it off. You got yourself an automatic sandwich!
These are great with salad and rice and grilled vegetables. Today we're grilling marinated portabella mushrooms with our spiedis. I cleaned them and marinated them as long as the meat, but in a separate bag. You grill them just like a hamburger. They taste like steak without all of the fat.

Try them and let me know what you think!