Lazy, hazy days
One day last week, the temperature hit a high of 87° — the kind of heat-wave that sends San Franciscans screaming from our un-air-conditioned homes straight to the nearest mall or cinema. Just two days later, the overnight low was 49°; close the windows, crank up the furnace.
Combine the wacky weather with the unsettling haze from dozens of wildfires, and you’ve got a recipe for doldrums. We cooked at home 4 nights last week, but it felt like work every time. The meal we’d planned as our One Local Summer supper — glazed lamb spareribs — turned out odd and ugly, completely unworthy of photographs, much less a post.
Luckily, we had an ace in the hole planned for mid-week. Our meat CSA has given us a surplus of ground beef. Throw it in a skillet with a hunk of Fatted Calf chorizo, a couple of the season’s first peppers from Happy Quail, a jar of homemade tomato sauce, and some local onions and garlic: Voilá, instant Sloppy Joes. Paired with a side of bacon-lashed coleslaw, we had ourselves a perfectly fabulous — and 100%-local — quick summer meal. Not glamorous, but definitely delicious.
San Francisco Sloppy Joes
1 pound Mexican-style chorizo
1 pound lean ground beef
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 whole Anaheim chiles, fresh or canned (or other mild green chiles)
2 cups tomato sauce
1 T ground red chile, or more to taste
salt and pepper
hamburger buns
shredded cheddar cheese and diced raw onion for garnish, if desired
If using fresh chiles, roast over an open flame or under the broiler, turning to cook all sides until black and blistered. Place charred chiles in a paper bag and roll the top tightly to steam; set aside. If using canned chiles, drain and rinse two large whole chiles and set aside.
Saute the chorizo in a large skillet over medium heat until browned. Remove the meat from the pan to a large bowl with a slotted spoon, leaving the rendered fat in the skillet. Saute the beef in the chorizo fat, breaking up large chunks. When mostly cooked, add the onion and garlic and cook a minute or two until translucent. Return the beef to the pan, and add the tomato sauce and red chile. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer.
If using fresh chiles, peel the charred skins off the steamed chiles; do not rinse. Cut the chiles (canned or roasted) into 1/2-inch pieces, and stir into the simmering meat mixture. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce is reduced to a spoonable thickness.
Serve over toasted hamburger buns, garnished with shredded cheese and/or raw onions.
Comment by Jennifer Hess
Mmmmmmmmmm. I haven’t had Sloppy Joes in AGES, and these sound fantastic. I love the addition of chorizo in there. I’m inspired!
Posted on 06.30.08 at 9:44AM
Comment by Lisa (Show Me Vegan)
I’m a collector of sloppy joes recipes. The chorizo and green chiles are great additions. I veganize mine by using TVP or lentils, and could use soyrizo. Thanks for the idea.
Posted on 07.01.08 at 5:18AM
Comment by dawn
I’m with you. Sometimes during the heat of summer I get cravings for those rich, comfort foods. These look so tasty, full of flavor. Thanks for sharing.
Posted on 07.01.08 at 5:56AM
Comment by Modified mummy
That sounds delicious!
I’m very new to Sloppy Joes. It’s not a dish I had ever seen or eaten here (England) but I knew of it, due to the excessive americanised TV I used to watch as a child. Finally got to make some the other week.
I hope my family are ready for it again after reading this!
Posted on 07.01.08 at 12:24PM
Comment by RebeccaC
My goodness that sounds delicous. Chicago goes through the same weird weather — I’ll have to keep this recipe in my back pocket for our next cold spell. Yum!
Posted on 07.01.08 at 1:11PM
Comment by Dr. Biggles
Yeah !!!
I wish my boys would eat something with flavors in it.
Biggles
Posted on 07.01.08 at 1:56PM
Comment by Becky
the sloppy joes look great! i don’t remember the last time i had one. yum.
Posted on 07.01.08 at 4:18PM
Comment by Erinn
Sloppy Joes remind me of my childhood, but these, I will admit sound a bit fancier then the ones I’m used to (sorry Mom!) Sometimes “unglamorous” food is just what fits the bill.
Posted on 07.01.08 at 5:18PM
Comment by Kirsten
I must admit, that I have never heard about Sloppy Joes. And we don’t have something similar in Germany! Time to taste it!
Posted on 07.01.08 at 11:40PM
Comment by Tartelette
Count me in as new to Sloppy Joes people but I like them and I like yours even better!
Posted on 07.02.08 at 10:53PM
Comment by Risamay
I can’t stop looking at your Sloppy Joe pictures. Particularly the up close and personal shot with the shredded cheese. I wish I had that guy in my hand, right now. I know it’s only 9:34 am. But somewhere in the world it’s dinnertime!
Posted on 07.07.08 at 9:35AM
Comment by Laura
I have been waiting and waiting to make these and I think tomorrow is the night. I picked up chorizo at the local butcher a couple of weeks ago and every time I open the freezer it shouts at me “Make Anita’s sloppy joes you fool!”
It has won, I can resist no longer. Thanks for the recipe.
Posted on 07.16.08 at 8:53AM
Pingback by Whole Story » Blog Archive » What We’re Reading…
[…] Married… with dinner: San Francisco Sloppy Joes […]
Posted on 09.19.08 at 7:53AM
Pingback by (not so) Urban Hennery » Blog Archive » Nothing much to say
[…] Then back to the house to start the lard and figure out dinner. In the end we improvised local sloppy joes. We didn’t have everything we needed for Anita’s recipe, so I used a bit of this and a bit of that and in the end they were pretty good. The real star of dinner though was an impromptu apple/cabbage slaw. Yum. I highly, highly recommend it. […]
Posted on 11.25.08 at 9:02PM
Pingback by Married …with dinner » Blog Archive » It’s getting chili
[…] Luckily, it was our favorite chili, which — even though we eat it pretty much all the time — I’ve never blogged about. We love it because, unlike other chili recipes that we’ve been known to make, this one’s highly adaptable. Like our bolognese sauce and sloppy joes, it’s another one of the recipes that we make in giant batches and freeze for weeknight dinners. If we’re using it to make chilidogs — which we often do — we’ll leave the beans out and simmer it down until it’s all meaty and thick. If we’re eating it on its own, we’ll add some Rancho Gordo beans, and thin it down a little with a few cubes of frozen chicken stock. […]
Posted on 12.14.08 at 10:39AM
Comment by From Me To You
This was so delicious!!! I loved the roasted pepper! We used it for our Dinner & A Movie series and I will make it again! Thanks for sharing!
From Me To You,
Jamie
Posted on 12.11.09 at 3:04PM
Pingback by Dinner & A Movie | Ann Street Studio
[…] I wanted to fancy it up a bit and I was thrilled to find this San Francisco Sloppy Joe recipe from Married with Dinner. They add chorizo and roasted chiles which really makes it an exciting new take on the […]
Posted on 08.14.12 at 12:48PM