Dear Australia, I present to you: Sloppy Joes

Sometimes you just need something easy. Easy to make, easy to eat, and especially easy to clean up. My go-to easy meal is usually some kind of burger. Meat, bread, toppings, done. But my lack of an outdoor grill turns this "easy" option into a big, greasy, set-off-my-fire alarm, kind of mess. Option 2? Another one of my favourite comfort foods: Sloppy Joes! I'm not sure if they're very well known outside of Canada and the US, and I have to admit my mum never made them when I was a kid either, but these delicious, and as their name would suggest, sloppy, sandwiches finally found their way into my life when I was living in Vancouver.

I was a culinary student living in a huge shared house in Kits with 15 of my best friends. Life was great, but Sundays were the BEST. Why do you ask? Because of our family dinners! And Steph's Sloppy Joes definitely set it off. I remember growing up, there was an ad for a product called "Manwich" that was on tv constantly. Weird right? Does it stand for manly sandwich? Who knows. I was never sure if it was a can full of just the sauce, or the meat too. Anyways, the idea of canned mince kind of grossed me out, so I never tried one. It wasn't until I ate Steph's home made version that I realized, duh, its just mince with tomato sauce on a bun. No can necessary. In fact, doing it completely from scratch means you can make it taste even better!

So ever since then, whenever I'm too tired for anything fancy and just want to dig into something so so so so good, this is what I make. But don't worry, this isn't just your run-of-the-mill Sloppy Joe recipe. I'm never too tired to put delicious finishing touches on things :D

Easy oven fries: bake with salt, pepper, olive oil at 225C turning twice until golden and crispy 20-25 min

My Sloppy Joes

For the filling:

500 g beef mince

1 large onion

4 cloves garlic

2 carrots, shredded

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

1 cup any combination of vegetables, pureed in a food processor (I used zucchini, pumpkin, and spinach)

2 small cans pureed tomato

1 tbsp honey

salt and pepper

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp paprika

In a heavy-bottomed pot, sear and break apart the mince until it is a lovely dark brown. Don't move it around too much. Let one side caramelize nicely before mixing it around. This is the hottest temperature and driest environment you will get you beef on so this is the only chance you will have to caramelize. Once liquid goes into the pot there is too much liquid to allow for caramelization. Once that is done, add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, and vegetable puree. Cook 10 minutes until everything is soft. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer. Cook on low for as long as you have patience for. The longer you cook it the more tender the final result and the more developed the flavour. Plus, if you cook it for a longer amount of time, you are allowing yourself more time to evaporate liquid meaning you are allowed to add more flavourful liquid into the dish! Rich beef stock? Deep, dry, red wine? Yum! As long as you cook the moisture out of the final product, add as much flavouring as you'd like! I cooked mine for about 3 hours.

You want your filling to stand up on its own when slopped onto a bun. Not quite as loose as spaghetti sauce. But don't worry if your face looks like this after dinner. There's no avoiding it.

I don't know this baby, but the other picture option was of a man eating a sloppy joe. His picture made me lose my appetite, so I chose the happy baby :)

For the rolls:

6 crispy rolls

2 cloves garlic

3 tbsp butter

2 tbsp chopped parsley

Salt and Pepper

This is a step not to be missed. It is the ultimate finishing touch. DO NOT SKIP! It's so easy and will make a world of difference to your dinner.

In a bowl, combine the garlic and butter. Microwave (or if you don't like to use microwaves do this step in a pot) until the butter is melted completely. Now add the parsley and seasoning. Slice your rolls in half. Brush each halved roll with garlic butter (you can even make MORE garlic butter if you want!) and arrange cut side up on a baking tray. Grill on high heat until they are golden brown and crispy, about 5 minutes. Keep a close eye on these because they can go from beautifully toasted to burnt in a few seconds. And then you will have to eat your delicious Sloppy Joes on the sliced bread you keep in your freezer, while still inhaling the aromatic burnt toast smell coming from your garbage can.

So that's it! Beautifully toasted garlic rolls? Check. Yummy (and secretly healthy) Sloppy Joes? Check. Just serve with some oven fries and homemade coleslaw, and you have a little slice of my kind of heaven.

Take a look at these glorious left-overs!