Husband loathes Sloppy Joes. Living where we do they are kind of hard to avoid. I get it, they are easy to make, please a crowd and frankly I find them very yummy. Husband cannot stand them. I have seen him avoid them when he can and politely stomach them when there is no other choice. Husband has very good manners and would never insult a host by not eating the provided food.
Because husband is not a fan of this All-American favorite I have avoided making it for years. I get my Sloppy Joe fix at family gatherings and pot lucks. Then, one of my coworkers brought Sloppy Joes in for Warm Up Wednesday. Oh my good lord, they were wonderful. I couldn’t get them out of my mind. To make matters worse, it was a menu planning week so I really wanted to put Sloppy Joes on the menu. I had to talk this out with husband.
Actual g-chat conversation:
g: you hate sloppy joes right?
husband: yup. I hate the sauce
g: got it
husband: and I hate them when they are ground beef. I guess it's not a sloppy joe if it doesn't have ground beef? It would be “pulled pork" otherwise, right?
g: yes, or chicken. Basically you don't like ground beef in a manwich sauce
husband: word
g: but if I put chicken and bbq sauce in a crock pot and then shredded the chicken and put it on a bun you would be down
husband: yes. but depends on the BBQ sauce and coming from you, I expect some sort of artisan bread bun
g: check
husband: I want a sloppy joe with an ascot
g: so, a sullied joseph?
husband: hahahahha YES!!!!!
g: i will make sure it happens in February
Enter the Sullied Joseph. “Sullied” was a term that my grandfather would use when we played Canasta (a card game my family likes to play). It’s one of the memories of him that I hold very close to my heart. It was a perfect fit. Then, I came across a Sloppy Joe recipe on Cooking Light. This was definitely not a can of Manwich and a pound of ground beef. It was meant to be!
I was so happy to find that most of the ingredients for the sauce were sitting in my pantry. I ran out of red wine vinegar and used balsamic in its place. This added such a depth of flavor in the sauce that I will make this a permanent change. I had given little one the last of the carrots so I had to leave the carrot out, but I will add it next time I whip these up. I am sad to report that I did not have any artisan bread on hand and I forgot to pick some up from the bakery. We used regular hamburger buns. I served these with tater tots – happy girl! I saved the extra six ounces of ground beef for a pizza topping.
I am happy to report that husband is very happy with Sullied Josephs. He was eating them on tortillas when we ran out of buns. Since this ended up being such an easy meal we may be eating Sullied Josephs a little more often. The recipe would be very easy to double for company or to throw in the freezer for a fast week night meal. I was thinking that the meat sauce would be very tasty on baked potatoes.
Enjoy!
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| Tomato paste in a tube is amazing! |
1 carrot, grated
10 oz. ground beef 1 onion, chopped
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. chili powder
¼ tsp. black pepper
¼ cup ketchup
1 T. Dijon
1 T. Worcestershire
1 T. tomato paste
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
8 oz. tomato sauce
8 slider hamburger buns
Preheat broiler.
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add carrot, beef, and onion to pan. Cook six minutes or until beef is browned and vegetables are tender. Add garlic powder, chili powder, and pepper and cook for one minute.
Combine ketchup, Dijon, Worcestershire, tomato paste, vinegar and tomato sauce in a small bowl. Add ketchup mixture to pan, stirring to evenly coat beef mixture. Simmer for five minutes or until thickened.
While sauce thickens, arrange buns, cut side up, in a single layer on a baking sheet. Broil two minutes or until lightly toasted. Place about ¼ cup beef mixture on bottom half of each of 8 buns; top each slider with top half of bun.
Adapted from Cooking Light – November 2011
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