What's for Dinner: Homemade Sloppy Joes
Sloppy Joes are a staple in my recipe book. What's not to like? Hamburgers in a sweet/spicy tomato sauce? Yes, please.
I was going to make them last week and use a can of sauce that I have in my pantry, but my husband suggested I find a homemade recipe. With one caveat. It needed to use a can of tomatoes. I had fire-roasted on hand and he was jonesin' for me to use it in the recipe. So out I set. My trusty i-Pad in had and Pinterest called up.
Do you know how many different sloppy joe recipes there are out there? I was amazed. Even more amazing? Almost none of them use diced tomatoes. Who knew? But, me being ever persistent, finally found one recipe from simplyrecipes.com that called for tomato sauce, but said that you could substitute a can of diced tomatoes.
This is the best recipe ever! It's easy to make, it smells wonderful while it's cooking and my husband said they were the best sloppy joes he's ever had. High praise, indeed!
To start, finely chop 1/2 cup of carrots, 1/2 cup of celery, 2 cloves of garlic and 1 cup of onion. I never would have thought to put vegetables in my sloppy joes, but now that I think about it, it does kind of make sense.
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan on medium high heat. Add the carrots and sautee them for about 5 minutes. I did mine for about 4. Next add the onion and celery, cooking them for another 5 minutes, or until the onions are translucent. Add in the garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Remove the veggies from the pan.
Brown the ground beef in the same pan used for the vegetables. The recipe recommends to cook it in batches and crumble it, I just threw it all in the pan and broke it up with a spoon while it cooked.
Puree 1 can of diced tomatoes in place of tomato sauce if you want to go that route, which I did.
Add the tomato puree, ketchup, Worcestershire, vinegar, sugar and spices to the ground beef and vegetables.
Lower the heat to medium low and let simmer for 10 minutes. Spoon onto hamburger buns and top with whatever toppings you like, and, voila! Homemade sloppy joes. I served these with frozen sweet potato fries and the were the best!
Best Ever Sloppy Joe Recipe, courtesy of simplyrecipes.com
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 minced carrots (can substitute chopped bell pepper)
1 cup finely chopped onion (about 1 medium onion)
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 lb ground beef
1/2 cup ketchup
2 cups tomato sauce (or 1 15-ounce can whole tomatoes, pureed)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
Pinch ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Pinch cayenne pepper
2 turns of freshly ground black pepper
Hamburger buns
Directions:
Heat olive oil in a large saute pan on medium high heat. Add the minced carrots and saute for 5 minutes. (If you are using bell pepper instead of carrots, add those at the same time as the onions.)
Add the chopped onion and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent, about 5 more minutes.
Add the minced garlic and cook for 30 more seconds. Remove from heat. Remove vegetables from the pan to a medium sized bowl, set aside.
Using the same pan (or you can cook the meat at the same the vegetables in a separate pan to save time), crumble the ground beef into the pan. You will likely need to do this in two batches, otherwise you will crowd the pa and the beef won't easily brwn.
Sprinkle with salt.
Do not stir the ground beef, just let it cook until it is well browned on one side. Then flip the pieces over and brown the second side. Use a slotted spoon to remove the ground beef from the pan (can set add to the set-aside vegetables) and repeat with the rest of the ground beef.
If you are using extra lean beef, you will likely not have any excess fat in the pan. If you are using 16% or higher, you may have excess fat. Strain off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat.
Return the cooked ground beef and vegetables to the pan. Use a wooden spoon to break up any chunks of ground beef into smaller bits.
Add the ketchup, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar and brown sugar to the pan. Stir to mix well. Add ground cloves, thyme and cayenne pepper.
Lower the heat to medium low and let simmer for 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste.
Serve with toasted hamburger buns.
