Super Sloppy Joes with Fennel and Cabbage Slaw

SUPER Sloppy Joes. It is a fork and knifer. I was inspired to make sloppy joes because Bobby Flay did a sloppy joe throwdown a few months ago. His Joes looked amazing. And I am sure they were. I intended to make them, but after looking at his recipe, I decided that was too much work for a loose meat sandwich. Bobby Flay is still awesome, just too awesome.

I looked around and Rachael's recipe had good ratings and was easy. It was pretty good...tasted just like sloppy joes should! I think I may be a little full of ground beef, though. With the meatloaf and the sloppy joes. This was a very meaty week. Scot had three joes. sloppy joes. joes. sloppy. joes.

Super Sloppy Joes

by Rachael Ray

(Yield: ~4 servings)

1 tablespoon extra‐virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan

1 1/4 pounds ground beef sirloin

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon steak seasoning blend, such as McCormick brand Montreal Seasoning

1 medium onion, chopped

1 small red bell pepper, chopped

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 cups tomato sauce

2 tablespoons tomato paste

4 crusty rolls, split, toasted, and lightly buttered

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add oil and meat to the pan. Spread the meat around the pan and begin to break it up. Combine brown sugar and steak seasoning. Add sugar and spice mixture to the skillet and combine. When the meat has browned, add onion and red peppers to the skillet. Reduce heat to medium low and cook onions, peppers, red wine vinegar and Worcestershire sauce with meat for 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and paste to pan. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to simmer and cook Sloppy Joe mixture 5 minutes longer. Using a large spoon or ice cream scoop, pile sloppy meat onto toasted, buttered bun bottoms and cover with bun tops.

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In addition, I made Mel D's Fennel and Cabbage Slaw, which I seriously love. I have made it several times. I am not usually a fan of coleslaws. When a restaurant offers coleslaw as a side, I often feel a little gypped. It is kind of a mix between a salad and a condiment. I think they are usually too sweet and soggy. I also think everytime...ooh, maybe this place has good coleslaw...they never do. Anyways! This is really good. I am sort of in love with fennel. If you haven't tried it, you should. It is kind of a cross between an very, very mild onion, the texture of cabbage and maybe has a little bok choy-ness. It tastes kind of licorice-y. If I am making this less desirable for you, just try it. The first time I had it was when I tried a salmon recipe by Alton Brown, which I will definitely post at sometime. It was amazing. So is fennel. A few deets. Sometimes the grocery store cuts off most of the tops of the fennel (the fronds). That is sad because the fronds are nice. However, even when the cut most of it off, you can usually salvage a small bunch of fronds. They are just the little hairy guys on the stalk. You can use them like any herb. As for slicing it up for the slaw, you cut off all the green part and just slice up the white bulb. Quarter it. Then, remove the core (you will be able to see it). If aren't sure, just taste it, the core is nasty and hard to chew.

I also don't think the bacon is necessary to make this amazing, although it sure doesn't hurt. I didn't use any of these measurements either because I made like a whole big mixing bowl of this stuff. And who wants to buy a whole cabbage to use 1 cup of it? And my last thing...I never use light anything. Especially anything dairy. I would rather use less or no full fat product than use anything light. And I think Miracle Whip is the worst thing on earth. Sorry, I know some peeps like it....but I just can't.

Fennel and Cabbage Slaw

by Melissa D'Arabian

1 fennel bulb, core removed, cut into quarters, and sliced very thinly, fronds reserved

1 cup thinly sliced purple cabbage

2 scallions, chopped

2 strips bacon, cooked crisp and chopped

For the dressing:

1/4 cup mayonnaise

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons chopped fennel fronds

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Toss the fennel, cabbage, scallions, and bacon together in a medium bowl. Whisk the mayonnaise, vinegar, fennel fronds, sugar, and salt and pepper, to taste, in a small bowl. Add the dressing to the slaw and toss to coat.

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