Sandwiches for a crowd (with enough left over for another recipe)

We are hosting a basketball tournament all this week so my colleagues and I are taking turns bringing in dishes for the hospitality room.   (If you are unfamiliar with a “hospitality room,” we provide free grub for all the officials, administrators, coaches, coaches’ spouses, coaches’ children, community dignitaries and other assorted characters—I could go on and on.   There is an unspoken rivalry between schools as to who can have the best hospitality room.)

Being proactive, I decided to make a meal in which any leftovers could be morphed into another dish for another night.   I actually did this during Thanksgiving week when the family was all here—I made these sandwiches one night and turned around and made chili out of the leftovers for the next night.   This is another great recipe from The Kitchen Witch—love that Rhonda girl—that I tripled and added a few other ingredients.   For Rhonda’s original post, click here.    For some homemade sandwich rolls (that I am NOT making this time around), click here.

Loose Meat Sandwiches for a Crowd

4 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef
2 large onions, minced
2 large green bell peppers, diced fine
3 T. prepared yellow mustard
3 T. Worcestershire sauce
3 T. Sriracha
3/4 t. fine sea salt
1 1/2 c. water
fresh ground pepper to taste

Cook ground beef, onions, and peppers in a large dutch oven.   Break up meat into small pieces while cooking.  (I use a metal spatula.)    Be careful not to actually “brown” the ground beef.   You just want to cook it through while breaking it up.

Add mustard, Worcestershire, Sriracha, sea salt, water and pepper.   Stir in and continue to break up meat.   Let simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool.   When cool (and this is the crazy part), use a hand mixer and mix on medium and then high for 1-2 minutes.  (My sister thought I was nuts at Thanksgiving for doing this.)

This recipe is a great alternative to the perennial Sloppy Joes.    You can serve these with cheese (the liquid kind or provolone is good) and pickles.   I love to top these with pickled peperoncini peppers.

Just take any leftover meat and throw it in with your favorite chili recipe.

I also made these and took them to a potluck at work in September.   I may have gotten a compliment from some of the staff:   “These taste just like the green hamburgers they used to serve in the cafeteria.”    Don’t ask about green hamburgers, but that is seriously what they were called.   I am still trying to figure out if this was a complement or not!  🙂