Spaghetti with Hotdogs

A childhood favourite and probably one of the first recipes I made on my own!
While watching an episode of the Big Band Theory I was shocked to hear that it's Sheldon Cooper's favourite meal too,  he mentioned wanting spaghetti with little slices of hotdogs in it  ^_^

This is such a tasty recipe for all ages but kids love it!





As always we do things from scratch around here (but don't let that discourage you because it is as easy as 1-2-3, or opening a jar of premade sauce!)

- 1 pack hotdogs (one large frankfurter per person or two per person of the smaller hotdogs) 

- 2 tbsp plain oil
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3/4 jar passata (italian strained tomato puree)  

(OR use a can of whole tomato, strain from liquid and puree until it's a smooth tomatoy sauce) 

- Salt & Pepper to taste

- 1 tbsp sugar (I use coconut sugar to keep it healthy)

- 2 cloves garlic, just crushed

-1 slice of green bell pepper (optional, it adds a nice flavour if simmered in the pasta sauce and removed later)

Chop your hotdogs into rings, I used shopsys all beef. Place saucepan on heat with oil, sautee hotdog rings on both sides until golden. 

Remove and set aside. 

Now in the same saucepan over medium high heat add olive oil, crushed garlic and let it sautee until fragrant a few seconds (don't let the garlic burn!). Add in your passata (it's an italian pureed tomato that comes in a tall glass jar)  Sautee on medium heat in the oil until it smells good, this is to get the sugars caramelizing in the tomato and remove that "raw" flavour.  

Cover at this stage with a lid because it will splatter all over your kitchen.  It takes about 3 minutes.

Season sauce with salt and pepper, add sugar and piece of green bell pepper (optional) 

Now cover and simmer on low until your pasta water is boiled and you've boiled your pasta too.  

Spaghetti (cook enough according to person's and directions)

Strain and keep some of the pasta water, add the pasta back into the pot with the 1/3-1/2 cup pasta water and add your sauce + hotdogs    Let it heat for about 30 seconds on the same heat you were boiling the pasta then cover, turn heat off and let it stand until it meddles (about 3 minutes - Can straighten up the kitchen at this point and get the plates out)

Now serve and enjoy! It doesn't need any cheese or anything, perfect as is!

Pretzel buns (burgers-sliders and hotdogs)

Salted Pretzel Rolls

Yield: 8 large rollsPrep Time: 20 minutes (plus 1 1/2 hours rise time)Cook Time: 15-20 minutes
Make the rolls smaller if you just want to use them as small dinner rolls.

ingredients:
1 ½ cup warm water (110°F)
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (not instant rise yeast)
2 teaspoons sugar
4-½ cups unbleached all-purpose Flour
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
4 tablespoons unsalted Butter, melted
¼ cups baking soda
1 whole egg, lightly beaten
Pretzel Salt, for sprinkling

directions:
In the bowl of your stand mixer (fitted with the dough hook attachment), add the water, yeast, and sugar. Stir and let rest 5-10 minutes until foamy (mine didn't look all that foamy but still turned out).

Add the flour, salt, and melted butter and mix using the dough hook until combined well. Cover with a plastic wrap (or a towel) and allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in bulk (again, mine didn't look like it rose all that much, but turned out amazingly). Punch the dough down and turn it onto a lightly floured clean surface.

Line 1 large sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside. Cut the dough into 8 pieces (4 1/2 - 5 ounces each). To shape the dough "take a piece of dough and start forming a round, smooth ball by pulling the sides to the center and pinching to seal. Place, pinched side down, on a counter and lightly cupping your hand around the dough ball, rotate your hand in small circles lightly rolling the ball around the palm of your hand."

Place the ball on the prepared baking sheet pinched seam side down, with at least 1” between each roll. I like to stagger mine: 2 rolls side by side, then one down one row but between the two in the top row... Then 2 more side by side, followed by one down a row but between the 2 in the top row... etc (this will fit all 8 on one cookie sheet). Cover with a towel and allow to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes until they rise & double (mine didn't rise a whole lot).

Preheat oven to 425°F and place oven rack in the middle position. In a large saucepan, bring 2 quarts of water to a low boil. Remove from heat and slowly add the baking soda (I dumped mine in and it boiled up and overflowed all over my stove - lesson learned! hah) place back on heat and lower to a simmer.

Place 2-3 of the rolls at a time into the poaching liquid, seam side down. Poach for 30 seconds and then carefully turn the roll over and poach for another 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon to the same prepared sheet pan, seam side down. Repeat with the remaining rolls.

Using a pastry brush, brush each roll with the beaten egg, making sure to coat all sides completely & then prinkle each roll with a little pretzel salt. Using a sharp straight edged knife, cut a slash (or 2) -or- an “X” shape in the top of each roll. Bake the rolls in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Serve hot!

Source 

Chili Dogs

My homemade Chili

One or two nights in advance:

- Measure out dry kidney beans (or any beans of your preference)

I did a mixture of kidney and Steuben yellow eye bean (an heirloom

variety used in baked beans)

The rule is to wash, soak in a lot of salty water, so keep adding salt

until it tastes like the ocean.

Some people don't add salt to their soaked beans, which is fine but I

think the beans taste a lot better if they absorb some salt.

After 12 hours or a day, and you're ready to boil these beans simply

dump all the water into a large pot and bring to a boil then simmer on

medium low until the beans are tender (adding more water if it steamed

off) I keep the lid slightly covered as if it's closed tightly it

overflows sometimes due to the starchiness.

This may take a few hours but once they are tender (be sure to check a

few to make sure all of them are cooked and not just a random one and

then you end up with hard beans) They should keep their shapes almost

but be nice and tender.

Alternatively if you want to skip this step and use canned beans that's

fine too but I think more people should be going back to dry beans,

they are creamy and I think it takes the whole dish to another level.

Preparing chili

Ingredients:

- 1 lb ground meat (I use beef but you can use turkey or chicken..)

- 2 1/2 to 3 cups precooked beans

- 1 Chopped onion

- 2 medium Chopped green bell pepper

- Tomato paste (few tbsps)

- 1 can pureed tomato

- 1 tbsp molasses

- Worsterchire sauce

- Salt & Black pepper to taste

- Ground cumin powder

Water

Oil

Directions: In a large heavy bottomed pan on medium high heat add oil, sautee onions and peppers until they are transluscient or slightly softened (but not burning)

Bring the heat up to high and brown the ground meat really well, you want to see brown bits in the pot (this is extra flavour)

Add tomato paste and fry it around, add can of tomato, season with salt and pepper, 3/4 tsp cumin powder or so, molasses, worstershire sauce, strained tomato puree and water.

Simmer on medium low until the meat and vegetables are so very tender, I left mine on the stove for 6 hours and kept adding more water to the pot as it boiled off (even though the lid was on)

In the last hour or so add the beans to the pot and let them absorb the yummy flavours and simmer together.

If making the chili dogs below immediately let the chili cool a bit before topping them.

Chili Dogs:

Ingredients:

- Your favourite hotdog (I used all beef)

- Hotdog buns (something basic from the supermarket)

- Your homemade Chili (cooled)

- Mayonaise

- Mustard (dijon or prepared yellow)

- Grated Cheddar cheese (we used old white cheddar)

- Chopped onions (according to preferance)

1. Set the oven on 350 and line a pan with foil.

2. Begin adding 1 tbsp of mayo to each bun and spreading it on the top

and bottom side.

3. Add a bit of the mustard to the bun and spread over the mayo.

4. At this point it's fun if someone is helping you because it's a bit

of an assembly line :) Put the hotdogs in the buns and lay in the

tray on the foil side by side.

5. Top each dog with a heaped serving of chili.

6. Sprinkle with cheese

7. Add chopped onion

Bake for 45 mins and serve immediately. These will be bubbling, the buns will be toasty on the outside and soft on the inside (due to the mayo tip) and the more tasty the chili is the better the flavour of the chili dog.

Fun toppings for serving:

- Pickled Jalapenos

- Chopped green onions

- Fresh Cilantro

- Homemade Guacamole (chopped tomato, avocado, red onion, cilantro, bit

of garlic, salt, cumin, drizzle of oil, squeeze of lime)

* Thanks to In The Wabe for the inspiration and to my sister for the use of some of her prep photos below