Sloppy 'Zo

Chef notes

I've been fortunate enough to travel to Argentina not only to see the winemaking process at Alamos Winery, but also to sample the gamut of Argentine food, from fine dining to the amazing street food — in particular a sandwich called choripán I had outside a football stadium in Ciudad Lanús. The name itself is a hybrid of “chorizo” and “pan,” the Spanish word for bread, which are its two main ingredients. The one I sampled had the bread toasted alongside the grilled sausages, which allowed the bread to be flavored by all the oils, spices and sausage drippings. This version is a combination of the choripan and an all-American sandwich from my youth: the sloppy Joe. I was incredibly surprised to see provolone used in such abundance in Argentina, so I also made the bottom slice of the sandwich somewhat of a provolone garlic bread. And the cold tomato, avocado and onion topping I've added is inspired by the stuffing for a Mendoza desert dish I tried called trucha en la masa. My advice is to keep the veggies as cold as possible before adding them at the very last minute. The contrast of temperatures and textures is just awesome.

Technique tips: Right after you make the cold veggie mixture that you’re going to chill in the fridge, start your garlic right away so everything is ready at the same time when you need it. If you really want to make the red wine “gravy” a bit more decadent, after deglazing the pan and adding onions, you can throw about 1/4 cup of provolone right into the sauce; it ends up thickening the gravy and holding the chorizo mixture together beautifully.

Swap option: if you can’t find a giant, shareable, scoopable loaf, no problem! Just spread the ingredients out across the slices of bread you have on-hand and just make regular sandwiches.

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