Chief's Sloppy Joe's
There was once a member who called herself Crewsk. She purchased on of my cookbooks and tried my Sloppy Joe recipe. She stated that she didn't like Sloppy Jjoes, but gave it a try. She reported that she loved my version, and tht her husband took left-overs to work. Then, she had to make more as his co-workers also loved them. So, I'm sharing it again, copied and pasted from my cookbook. The recipe is easy to multiply for larger crowds.
Sloppy Joe's
Before I met my wife, I was going out with another young lady who lived at home with her parents. One day I was at her place and she said “Ya want some lunch”? Of course, being an
exceptionally slender twenty‑year‑old, with an ultra‑high
metabolism (whatever happened to that metabolism anyway), I
said “Sure”.
She went into the kitchen to find a can of store‑bought Sloppy Joe sauce and some ground beef. To make a long story short, she had no sauce and was at a loss for something to make. I replied that peanut butter and jelly would be fine. She complained that her heart was set on Sloppy Joe's.
I said “Well let me see whatcha got.” She had ketchup, brown
sugar, Worcestershire Sauce, tomato paste, etc. I quickly
threw together a sauce with fresh chopped onions and green
peppers added for texture and flavor. She was amazed. I was
amazed that she was amazed. But I was the culinary hero (a
dangerous thing for a twenty year old whose head swelled
easily). I wasn't yet a very good cook. But this seemed pretty
elementary to me.
The point of this is that with a little imagination, you can
create almost any recipe you desire. And remember, if you make
your own, you can tailor it to your tastes.
This is the original “meal in a pan”. As an example of the
“tailor it to your taste” principle, my wife's idea of Sloppy
Joe Sauce is completely different from mine. But hers is
really good, and exceptionally easy to make. However, this is
my book so your going to get my sauce. After you get the idea,
you can make your own, modified to fit your family's tastes.
You can even use the store‑bought stuff if you like it. I won't
tell.
*
Ingredients:
1‑4 oz. can tomato paste
1‑6 oz can Tomato Sauce
1‑12 oz. can dark red kidney beans
1 clove minced garlic
½ medium yellow onion, diced
3 heaping tbs. chopped green pepper
1/4 cup dark brown sugar (for Diabetics, substitute an equal
amount of Splenda brand sweetener and a tsp. of molasses)
1 tsp. Chili Powder
½ tsp. Salt
1 tbs. Worcestershire Sauce
1 bay leaf, crumbled
2 tbs. olive oil
1 lb. ground beef
Place ground beef into a 12 inch covered frying pan and place over medium heat. While the pan is warming, add the olive oil to a 1 quart sauce pan and apply medium heat. Add the garlic,
onion, and bay leaf to the oil and saute until the onion turns
translucent. Add the remaining ingredients, stir until well
blended, cover and turn down heat to simmer.
Lift the lid from the ground beef and break up the meat into
bite sized chunks. Lightly salt the meat, stir, and cover.
Check the meat and stir the sauce every five minutes until the
meat is cooked through.
Drain the meat into a suitable bowl and place the juice in the refrigerator for later use. Combine the meat and sauce and serve over hamburger buns.
Qjuiv, easy, and feeds a crowd/ Of course I would expect you to change the recipe to your taste. But If you enjoy htis straight up, that's good too. Enjoy.
Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North