Hooray for Dinner Requests – Boozy Sloppy Joes

Spices and things

When you do a lot of the cooking it is always nice when you get a request from your wife. As it happens, this doesn’t happen nearly enough. I always feel like I am scrounging for ideas and I am not nearly as efficient and creative as Lydia is. So when I get a text from her saying she has a craving for Sloppy Joes, I’m in.
There are a few things I feel like I make well, and this might just be one of those things.
I may have had a recipe at one point, but after many iterations, and trial and error; this might just be my favorite version.
At least Lydia praised it, which is a very good thing, as I have had some not so successful attempts.

And for those hoping for exact measurements, this isn’t science. Taste it a lot.

Special Request Sloppy Joes

Ingredients:

Secret Ingredient – Beer

One pound ground beef. I like 85/15 or 80/20; a little bit of extra fat, as long as your beef is grass fed is great. If not, go as lean as you can.
Olive oil and or grape seed oil
An onion -chopped
Half a green pepper – chopped
Those roasted tomatoes we cooked the other day.
Two cloves of garlic – crushed
Three leaves of dino kale – chopped
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne
Chili powder
Worcestershire sauce
And my favorite cowboy rub which consists of Chili powder, garlic, onion, salt, jalapeno, chipotle, coffee, and some sea salt
And last but, not least, a bit of your favorite beer, I like to cook with a bock. Tonight I used Wasatch Devastator

Method:

In a large sauté pan, heat some oil.
Chop your onion and throw it in the pan with the hot oil.
Peel and crush your garlic and let it sit for a few minutes. (this is a science thing)
Chop the bell pepper and kale.
Once your onions are starting to be nice and translucent, and maybe a little caramelized, add the garlic and sauté a little longer.
Add your ground beef, and now is a good time to add some salt.
Brown the beef until it is almost cooked through and then drain off any excess fat you don’t want.
Add the chopped bell pepper.
Now you can season it all you want. Add your spices, and a little Worcestershire sauce plus your beer.
So, here you let it simmer.
Don’t forget to taste it all throughout.
Just before you are going to serve it, add the kale and let it wilt just a touch.

Last touch, add the kale

Tonight I served ours on a pretzel roll with a fresh spinach salad. Remember those beets and zucchini we cooked earlier this week? They went into the salad too.

And of course, you’ve got to finish off that beer.

Enjoy

Try different spice and herb combinations until you find something you like.
I put cinnamon and cocoa in my Sloppy Joes once.
Sometimes you’ll get a winner, sometimes not.
Tonight’s was a winner.

What are you cooking tonight?

Greg