The all American sloppy joe

The Boy, as you know, will occasionally send me recipes he finds that he thinks are interesting, or that he would like us to try. Quite a while ago, he found a recipe on Facebook for a Philly cheese steak sloppy joe, which basically means, sloppy joe with a piece of cheese in it!

Recently, I decided to try my hand at making it and I followed the recipe. I found the recipe to be rather bland and then added some cayenne pepper to it to spice it up, but it turned out too spicy and not like your typical sloppy joe, or so The Boy said, as I have never had a sloppy joe before.

The next time I tried it, we were having some friends over and because (1) I didn't know if they could eat spicy food and (2) I wanted to make it a bit more authentic but still tasty, I varied the original recipe yet again and came up with something that was just delicious.

Here is what I did:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 small sweet onion chopped
• 1 green bell pepper seeded and chopped
• 1/4 cup steak sauce (like A1 or Worchestershire)
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons beef stock powder
• 2 teaspoons of corn flour mixed with a little bit of water
• Provolone cheese
• Sliced pickles / gherkins
• Olive oil
• Hamburger buns

Instructions:

• Crumble the ground beef into a skillet and add the chopped onion and pepper. 
• Begin to cook, when the beef is about half cooked, add the spices, broth and steak sauce. 
• Cook until all items are done and allow to simmer. While simmering, add in corn flour mixture to thicken sauce and continue to cook down/thicken.
• Heat a pan on the stove with some olive oil drizzled right around the pan
• Slice open buns and place the flat side on to the pan and toast the bun till it is golden brown. It's okay if it gets a bit burnt! You may have to rotate the buns to get them toasted equally.
• Heat your oven to 180°C.
• Place buns toasted side up on top of a baking / cookie sheet lined with foil and fill them with the meat mixture. 
• Top each one with a slice of provolone cheese.
• Place in the oven or under the broiler / grill for 3 minutes to melt cheese.
• Once cheese is melted, top with a few slices of the pickles / gherkin and serve.

The extra 2 teaspoons of beef stock powder really adds a robustness and depth to the flavor of the sloppy joe, as does the other spices, so don't skip those. Oh, and don't forget to serve with the pickles or gherkin slices as they really do add a lovely counterpoint to the rich beefy flavors.

This turned out to be super tasty and since I made a double batch, I ended up with leftovers which was super easy for me to heat back up in a pan and cook up for another meal.

Of course, they were also a success with our very Aussie friends, who had never tried such an American dish before.

If you do make this, be sure to post pictures for me to see either on Instagram - be sure to tag me with @langshipley or on my Daz In The Kitchen Facebook page.


© This work is copyrighted to Invest-Ex and Destiny's Fortunes Pty Ltd

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Steak and fries

For a very long time (2 - 3 years, I think), I was not eating any red meat and certainly not able to handle an entire steak. As a result, my poor darling didn't get any red meat at home (unless it was minced in a spaghetti sauce) and the only time he got a steak was when he went out to a steak house.

Recently, I've been back into the red meats again, slowly but surely. The whole process has taken a good year, but I'm back to eating it again and even craving it slightly.

Last night, The Boy decided that he wanted something simple, steak and fries and that is what he got. It's such a simple meal and so tasty.

Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

• 2 x scotch fillet steaks
• Garlic salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• Green leafy lettuce
• Sweet potato fries (frozen from the store - any type you like)

Instructions:

• Defrost your steaks if they are frozen
• Place onto a plate and drizzle lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic salt and ground pepper
• Heat up a pan to medium heat and place the seasoned side onto the pan
• Cook for about 3 - 4 minutes. While the steak is cooking drizzle a little olive oil onto the top side of the steak and then season again with garlic salt and pepper
• After the 3 - 4 minute mark, turn the steak over and cook again for another 3 - 4 minutes
• Note: this will give you a medium-rare steak. If you want a more cooked steak, leave it in the pan for a longer period of time. If you want a more accurate check of your meat, you can also use a meat thermometer, and you can find the correct temperatures here.
  

For the sweet potato fries:

• Heat up a small saucepan of canola, sunflower or whatever vegetable oil you like that can be used for frying and has a high heat point
• Take the fries out of the freezer, and while the fries are still frozen, drop them in batches (how much will depend on the size of the saucepan you are using) into the saucepan and fry until a golden brown, about 2 - 4 minutes for each batch, depending on your oil temperature
• Remove the fries and drain them in a plate lined with paper towels
• Repeat until all the fries are cooked
• Once all the fries are cooked, remove the paper towel, sprinkle some garlic salt over the fries and toss them to evenly distribute the garlic salt. This will make your sweet potato fries very tasty
• Note: if the oil is hot enough, it will bubble when you drop the fries in. You can do one test fry to check the oil temperature. Also I used sweet potato because I like sweet potato fries, but really, you can use any type of fries you like
  

For the green leafy lettuce salad:

• I just used some salad mix from the store and then dressed with with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Very simple

This dinner turned out to be super tasty and The Boy really enjoyed it a great deal. This is also probably the first time in several years that I have cooked a steak for us for dinner. I think I will be doing it again soon. I really enjoyed it.

If you do make this, be sure to post pictures for me to see either on Instagram or on my Daz In The Kitchen Facebook page.


© This work is copyrighted to Invest-Ex and Destiny's Fortunes Pty Ltd

Find me around SOCIAL MEDIA:
Cooking blog: http://dazinthekitchen.blogspot.com.au/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dazinthekitchen
Twitter: @langshipley https://twitter.com/langshipley
Instagram: @langshipley http://instagram.com/langshipley
Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/langshipley/
Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/langshipley
Makeup and beauty blog: http://langshipley-deannasworld.blogspot.com.au/