Vrghr's take on a special California dish from the SF and San Jose area: Joe's Special! This is normally created with just hamburger, spinach, onions, garlic, and eggs. Some variations add mushrooms and other "tweaks", such as Worcestershire sauce, nutmeg, hot sauce, etc.

Vrghr tasted this at a local restaurant while visiting friends in San Jose, and has wanted to recreate this flavorful and very filing dish ever since. So wuff decided to give it a shot this weekend.

Wuffy had some leftover creamed mushroom, spinach, carrot, & garlic mixture in the freezer, from an Italian Timballo Vrghr had created for a friend's party. Since there was no fresh or frozen spinach to be had at wuffy's place, this seemed like a perfect substitution.

It worked out GREAT!

No need for wuff's followers to create the special creamed spinach mixture just to make this dish though. Vrghr will add the ingredients with special "optional" instructions for wuff's variation. This variation was really good, but so is the original dish. And it's really easy to create, too!

Note, the original dish makes a VERY "healthy" portion. So does this recipe. You're going to need a big appetite to get through it in one sitting. But you can easily split this up and feed 2, or even 3 furs and still leave the table satisfied.

Vrghr saved half of his and had it for lunch a day later. Every bit as good re-warmed as fresh!

NOTE - Ideally, Joe's Special should really be served with a nice crusty loaf of San Francisco sourdough bread on the side. But you can make do with some crusty, warm loaves of your local rustic bread, French baguettes, Italian, or even just some toasted sandwich bread. Use what you have, and dig in!

Enjoy this as a hearty breakfast, or for any time of day. YUM!

INGREDIENTS:
1/2-3/4 lb Ground Beef or Ground Chuck (85/15 is good)
1 small or 1/2 Med white or yellow Onion, diced
1-1 1/2 lb frozen Spinach, thawed & drained of excess water
2 TBS minced or 4-5 cloves garlic, crushed
3-4 large Eggs, beaten
1/2 lb Crimini or Brown (or white button) Mushrooms, cleaned, stemmed, and chopped (Optional)
1/2 tsp Seasoned Salt (Lawrys is good) (or more to taste)
1/2 tsp ground Black Pepper (or more to taste
1/4 tsp dried Oregano
1/8 tsp ground Nutmeg
2 TBS Butter

1/2 Carrot, peeled and shredded (Optional)(This was a part of the Tymballo filling mixture. It isn't normally found in Joe's Special, but it tasted pretty good)
Dash of Hot Sauce (Optional)
1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce (Optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Put the thawed frozen spinach in a sieve and press with the back of a spoon to squeeze out the extra water. Allow to continue draining while the veggies and beef are cooking

Finely dice the onion, and beat the eggs in a separate container. It's okay if the eggs still show some white and yellow differences. Peel and finely shred the Optional carrot. Clean and remove woody stems from the mushrooms and finely dice (NOTE - you can used canned mushrooms too, but make sure you drain all the liquid off. If using canned mushrooms, add them with the beef instead of with the Onions, as the canned version is already partly cooked!)

In a medium-large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter until foamy and starting to slightly brown at the edges
Add the diced onions and mushrooms. If using Optional shredded carrots, add them also. Saute until the mushrooms release their liquids and dry out a bit, and the onions are translucent. Add the minced or crushed garlic and continue to cook until fragrant, but don't let it brown

Add the ground beef/chuck, and stir, breaking up the bigger chunks. Add the salt, pepper, oregano, and Optional Worcestershire sauce. Stir in and continue to cook the beef until no pink remains and the beef is lightly browned

Add the spinach and stir in. Cook for a minute or two to warm and combine flavors.

Pour in the beaten eggs, season with nutmeg and Optional hot sauce. Raise heat to high and stir until eggs scramble into the meat. Remove from heat immediately when the eggs just barely begin to look dry (some moisture is still good). They'll continue cooking from the residual heat of the beef mixture

Pour your "special" onto a large warmed plate, and serve with a side of (Ideally) warm, crusty San Francisco sourdough bread

!DEVOUR!