Bobby Flay's "Throwdown" was so inspiring (or perhaps, around 3 a.m. Saturday night, I was just so open to suggestion) that I decided to take the barbecuing out of today's BBQ and instead, serve up some sloppy joe.
Epicurious says the dish should have a "mixture of cooked ground beef, onions, green peppers and spicy tomato sauce," and Wikipedia allows for ketchup as a tomato sauce substitute. But Mr. Flay, in his battle against the owners/chefs/brothers at Schnipper's Quality Kitchen in Midtown Manhattan, got pretty creative, so I felt liberated to experiment (primarily by plagiarizing his innovations).
The ultimate recipe, after a trip to the Giant by the Columbia Heights Metro stop, turned out to involve ground beef, chili powder, sauteed garlic, ketchup, bell peppers (red, yellow and orange), a poblano pepper, chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, brown sugar and a cilantro garnish, served on sliced baguette.
Dessert: apple pie, vanilla ice cream and Fudgsicles gifted by guests in some kind of Americana state of mind.
Middle photo by
