Sloppy Jose's

Superbowl Sunday means friends, beers and tons of food.  This year we were at our friend Kate's place by the art museum.  Her kitchen sucks, so I volunteered to take care of the food.  After watching the Mexican Made Easy girl on Food Network Saturday morning, I decided to go with the south of the border theme - guacamole from scratch, queso fundito, and mexican sloppy joe's - henceforth known as Sloppy Jose's! 

Up to this point, I've only ever had sloppy joe's made from the can of Manwich (or the knockoff Shop-Rite brand when mom & dad were short on funds that week) but they are one of my favorite comfort food meals. The recipe for Joe's border jumping cousin has you make the sauce from scratch, and substitute ground turkey for the beef.  I found it easier to make the sauce in one pot while browning the turkey in a saute pan.  The recipe calls for just adding the raw ground turkey to the sauce pot, but I think you get more flavor browning it first and then adding it back in.  Probably good either way though. 

As for the sauce, I loved the freshness of making it from scratch.  The addition of the corn, jalapeno's, oregano and thyme (plus some habanero hot sauce at the end) gave it a great Mexican kick.  With the quantities listed below, you can make enough for about 4-6 servings.  I tripled the recipe for the party, but we had plenty left over - and it got better after a day or two with time for the flavors to meld in the pot.  Sloppy Jose's for lunch?  Si!  

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup finely diced white onion
• 1/4 cup finely diced celery
• 1/4 cup finely diced carrot
• 1 ear corn, shucked and kernels removed or 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 jalapenos, stemmed and deveined
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 1/2 cups tomato puree
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed and chopped
• 2 springs fresh oregano, leaves removed and chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 6 hamburger buns
• Serving suggestion: Avocado slices & hot sauce on the side

Directions

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and celery and cook until translucent. Add the carrot, corn kernels, garlic, and jalapeno. Cook for 5 minutes. Add ground turkey and saute until cooked through. Stir in the tomato puree, bay leaf, thyme, oregano and salt and pepper, to taste. Reduce the heat to medium, cover the pan and cook for 10-15 minutes. Discard the bay leaf.

Put about 1/4 cup of the sloppy jose meat into each hamburger bun. Serve warm with  avocado slices.