Peace and Love in the Kitchen

adapted from The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker and Ethan Becker (1997)

For the last few weeks of the summer, my son has been hanging out with this darling boy from down the street. Theirs is an easy friendship.  They ride their bicycles up to the baseball fields with a bat and glove before the day gets weighted down with heat and humidity.  When it gets too hot, they retreat to either his house or ours and play video games.  Sometimes, they have dinner together.  Why is it that children love the food at other people’s houses more than their own?

My boy goes on and on about the food at The W.‘s house.  The W.’s have a ranch where they raise grass fed organic beef. They keep half a cow’s worth of steaks and ground beef in their freezer in the city where they serve primo-tasting red meat all year long.  Boys love beef.  Mrs. W. makes the BEST steak!  Mrs. W. made tacos!  Mrs. W. makes the BEST Sloppy Joes!  Why don’t YOU ever make Sloppy Joes?

I am delighted that my son is getting exposure to someone else’s good food.  But, if I am being honest, I have to admit that my sons’ raving endorsement of Mrs. W.’s cooking stirs up some negative feelings in me.  Maybe I resent that my son never goes nuts over my food like he does hers.  Maybe I covet my neighbors frozen cow.

I don’t have a frozen cow, and I don’t have Mrs. W’s pretty long blond hair.  Even though I could conceivably pay to have both, I think I’ll make Sloppy Joes instead.

Sloppy Joes served with sliced heirloom tomates and spicy Napa cabbage slaw with cilantro dressing

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 small red or yellow bell pepper, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 large celery stalk, finely chopped

1 tsp dried thyme

salt and ground black pepper, to taste

1 1/4 lbs ground beef chuck or sirloin

1/2 cup Chili Sauce

1/2 cup beer or water

3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

hot red pepper sauce to taste

6 hamburger buns or 6-inch length French bread, halved

1. PREP VEGETABLES:  Heat oil in a skillet over MEDIUM heat.  When oil is hot, add onion, bell pepper, garlic, celery, thyme, salt and pepper.  Saute until vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes.  Transfer mixture to a medium bowl and set aside.
2. BROWN MEAT:  Increase the heat to MEDIUM HIGH and add the meat.  Break it up with a wooden spoon as it browns.  When browned, drain off any fat.
3. COMBINE AND SIMMER:  Add onion mixture, chili sauce, beer, Worcestershire sauce, and hot red pepper sauce, and stir to combine.  Partially cover the skillet and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.
4. SERVE:  Spoon Sloppy Joe mixture onto the base toasted buns or French bread.  Cover the top with the other half of the bread to make a sandwich. Serve hot.

A clean plate!

Peace and love from my kitchen to yours,

Waverly

Tags:

• BEEF
• kids

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