Sloppy Joe Pie — Because Everyone Is Worth Feeding

I interviewed Mrs. Crawford for the book. Sat at her kitchen table — the first time I've been inside her house instead of just the porch — with the recorder between us and two cups of tea and the kind of silence that comes before someone tells you their life.

Mrs. Crawford is eighty-eight. Born in Savannah in 1935. Married Henry Crawford in 1958 and loved him for fifty-two years before he died of Alzheimer's in 2010. They had one daughter, Sharon, who lives in Macon and visits monthly. Mrs. Crawford was a seamstress — not a hobby seamstress, a professional one. She made wedding dresses. For forty years, she made wedding dresses in a shop on Drayton Street, and every bride who walked down an aisle in Savannah between 1965 and 2005 was wearing Mrs. Crawford's work.

She told me about Henry. About how he was a jazz musician — trumpet — who played at clubs on Congress Street and who swept her off her feet with a song and a smile and a promise that he would always play music for her. He kept that promise. Even when the Alzheimer's took his words, he could still play three notes of their song. Three notes. Until the end.

She said, "After Henry died, I stopped eating. Not on purpose. I just forgot. I forgot to be hungry. It took your soup, Dorothy. Your soup on my porch. That's what reminded me that eating was worth doing." I said, "Mrs. Crawford, you're worth feeding." She said, "Everyone is worth feeding. That's what you taught me."

I came home and I played the recording and I heard a woman's life in forty-five minutes, and it was beautiful and it was ordinary and it was exactly the kind of story that the second book needs: a life told through the meals that sustained it and the meals that stopped and the meal that brought it back.

Made she-crab soup tonight. Mrs. Crawford's favorite. Took her a bowl. She ate it at her table and I sat across from her and we ate together, two old women with dead husbands and living appetites, and the soup was warm and the company was warm and that's the whole book right there, baby. That's the whole second book.

Now go on and feed somebody.

She-crab soup is Mrs. Crawford’s dish — that one belongs to her and Henry and Drayton Street and all those years — but the lesson she gave me at her kitchen table belongs to everyone: that feeding somebody is never just about the food. This Sloppy Joe Pie is the recipe I’ve been making for neighbors and church friends and anybody who looks like they’ve forgotten to be hungry, because it’s warm and it’s simple and it says “I showed up” without a single word. Make it for somebody who needs it. Mrs. Crawford would approve.

Sloppy Joe Pie

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef (80/20)
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, diced
• 1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced
• 1 can (15 oz) sloppy joe sauce (such as Manwich)
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 can (8 oz) refrigerated crescent roll dough
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven. Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9-inch pie dish or a 9x9 baking dish and set aside.
2. Brown the beef. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef, breaking it up as it browns, about 5–6 minutes. Drain excess fat.
3. Build the filling. Add the diced onion and bell pepper to the skillet and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the sloppy joe sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic powder. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer on low for 5 minutes until the mixture thickens slightly. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup of the shredded cheddar.
4. Line the dish. Unroll the crescent dough and press it into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared dish, pinching any seams together to form a solid crust. Brush the dough lightly with beaten egg.
5. Fill and top. Spoon the beef mixture evenly over the crescent dough crust. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese over the top.
6. Bake. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 25–30 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted and bubbling. Let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
7. Serve. Cut into wedges or squares and serve warm. Good company is strongly encouraged.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 410 | Protein: 22g | Fat: 22g | Carbs: 30g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 780mg