Classy Joes (Sloppy Joes)

If you're a regular visitor of this blog you know that I tend to make recipes that are a little more on the creative side. This has never been and never will be a Pinterest baking blog filled with quinoa and Oreo filled recipes. Instead of appealing to the masses I would rather move the culinary arts forward and present my reimagining of a school cafeteria staple, the Classy Joe. Sure the Classy Joe seems like a twisted pipe dream of a hairy lunch lady with aspirations of getting a Michelin Star.

Fun fact! When fried purple potatoes turn brown!

Gettin' saucy!

Classy Joes (Sloppy Joes)

• Challah Bread cubed 2x2 in
• 1/2 lbs Tri Tip Steak
• 1/2 cup Onion minced
• 1/2 cup Green Bell Pepper minced
• 1 Egg
• 1/3 cup Milk

Sauce

• 1/2 cup Ketchup
• 2 teaspoons Mustard Seed ground
• 2 tablespoons Worcester Sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Salt
• 2 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Brown Sugar

1. Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. 
2. Be sure all the prep work gets done, like cutting the bread and mincing the vegetables, to ensure the dish gets created properly.
3. Make a egg and milk bath in a shallow small bowl. 
4. Cook the steak over medium high heat, one minute on the first side then one minute on the other side. Or just cook the steak to your liking.
5. Coat the bread cubes in the egg bath then sort of press the vegetables into the moist cube. Cook in a skillet over medium heat until goldenish brown (the cubes will be green thanks to the bell peppers.
6. Once you have a few cubes cooked then you plate how you wish. I made a column with my meat and bread topped with a slice of black radish and green onion. I also served it with some purple fingerling potato fries, that sort of turned brown after I fried them. 

As always Photos by Katy Weaver!

Beef Stroganoff with Gorgonzola Gnocchis

Before we get into this post I just want to mention that we have a holiday ecookbook on Google Play! Which can be downloaded by clicking here, here or here. Or you can click on that ad to the right. It's a good way to support your favorite food bloggers!

This is our first post in a series entitled: Foods with Weird Names.  Sure Beef Stroganoff seems like an outdated dish, but adding the Gorgonzola Gnocchis turns this into a new modern classic. This is a perfect example of taking something from the past and making it fit today's tastes. It's not as hard as people make it out to be. 

Side note: I want to lick that steak. 

Beef Stroganoff

• 1 lb. Top Sirloin Steak sliced into strips about 1/4" thick.
• 6 Mushrooms baby cremini--sliced 
• 1/2 medium Red Onion minced 
• 2 tablespoons Butter
• 1 clove Garlic minced 
• 1/4 cup Wine (Pinot Noir) 
• 3/4 cup Sour Cream
• 1 tablespoon Crushed Mustard Seeds
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Chives finely chopped

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the garlic and onions. Caramelize until caramel in color. 
2. Add the sliced mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper, sauté for about 3-5 minutes.  
3. Introduce the steak into the mix at this point. Sauté only until the steak turns slightly brown.
4. Stir in the wine and sour cream. Bring to a boil then reduce to a low simmer. Stirring occasionally let the sauce thicken up before serving. 

Gorgonzola Gnocchis

• 2 Potatoes boiled and mashed
• 1 tablespoon Butter
• 1 cup Flour (plus extra if needed) 
• 2 Eggs
• 4 oz. Gorgonzola crumbled

1. In a large bowl mix the mashed potatoes in with the butter and 1/4 cup of the flour.
2. Mix in the eggs and the rest of flour.
3. Sprinkle the gorgonzola into the mixture. Fold the cheese into the batter. Add more flour as needed. It should be the consistency of slightly tacky bread dough.
4. Transfer the dough into a ziplock bag. 
5. Heat several cups of cold water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. 
6. Cut the tip off the ziplock bag, that's right - just the tip. Squeeze over the boiling pan while cutting the dough into tootsie roll sized pieces. 
7. Boil until each gnocchi floats in the pan.
8. Drain the water and serve with Beef Stroganoff on top. Garnish with chives. 

Photos as always by Katy Weaver (you probably know that by now)

Open Face Steak Sandwich

Here's a cooking tip for everyone reading, if you want to make a sandwich fancier, make it an open face sandwich. It shows off all the content in the sandwich in an appetizing way. Want to make that PB&J sandwich more interesting? Just make it an open face sandwich. Boom! All your dinner guest will be impressed with your culinary skills. Here's another cooking tip, don't serve PB&J sandwiches at a dinner party, unless it's some weird dinner party for 8 year-olds.

Everyone loves steak, even vegetarians, they just won't admit it. Steak is amazing and an important part of a balanced diet, but sometimes just eating a hunk of meat doesn't cut it. Not even with a steak knife. And most of the time when I order a steak sandwich from a restaurant, it's either super greasy or very dry, occasionally I'll find a place that's somewhere between the two, but those places are pretty rare. That's why I wanted to make my own steak sandwich and use the most marbled pieces of meat I could find. 

Caramelized Bourbon Onions

• 1 large yellow onion chopped
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 shot of bourbon

Serves about 4

1. Get a skillet, melt the butter, and add the garlic. After about 30 seconds add the onions, and sugar. Cook over medium high heat until the onions are caramelized.
2. Add the shot of bourbon to deglaze the pan and cook until the liquid is gone.

Open Face Steak Sandwich

• 1 lbs Denver steaks
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• a dash of salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup shredded white cheddar
• 1 loaf of ciabatta bread thickly sliced 

Serves about 4.

1. Preheat your oven to 500 and place a cast iron skillet in the oven (I used my cast iron griddle and it worked just as well). 
2. While the oven is heating up. Place the steaks in a bowl and toss them with the olive oil, salt and pepper.
3. Once the oven reaches temperature take the skillet out of the oven and place it on the stove top over medium high heat. 
4. Place the steaks on the skillet for 30 seconds. Flip and cook the other side for 30 seconds as well. Flip the steaks again and place the skillet back into the oven for 2 minutes. Flip the steaks one last time and let cook for another minute. Take the steaks out of the oven and let them sit on a plate for about 3 minutes before cutting them into strips.
5. Take a slice of ciabatta and spoon enough of the bourbon onions on it to barely cover the bread.  Sprinkle the cheese over the onions, that way it gets all melty. Then slice the steaks into strips and place on top.  Enjoy!

This steak sandwich pairs nicely with the chard from this recipe, and if you're looking for an appetizer, yam hash browns make a wonderful opening to this dish.

Once again all these stunning pictures are by Katy Weaver.