Have You Ever Eaten a Hot Dog Like This?

I ate a ridiculous hot dog for lunch.

It didn't take long to make, either--I cooked it in between classes! My housemate saw me preparing it and said I always eat such ambitious meals. I said it's just a hot dog.

But I definitely said that in jest, because if you look at it, you can tell it was clearly more than just a hot dog.


It was pretty simple, though, really. If it looks delicious, and you want to have one, read on. So easy.

First cut up some onions, almost paper-thin. This is my favorite way to eat onions: you quarter the onion so you have a flat side, and then you just shave slices off of it as thinly as possible. Heat some butter in a pan over medium-high (to high), and then toss the onions in it. No need to move them around much until they're good and brown.

Then slice the hot dog lengthwise, and put it in the pan with the onions. When it's cooked on one side, turn it over, and put some shredded or thinly sliced cheese (I used mozzarella) on top. Put some fresh basil (leaves torn in half) in the pan, and let it heat for a moment. Then move the basil and onions onto the hot dog, and add some crumbled feta.

Transfer the hot dog to a bun or piece of bread or your hand or a tortilla or over-large cracker, add a little bit of mustard and ketchup, and enjoy!

Crepes and Scapes - a belated Independence day post (part 2)

I separated these out so that you don't feel obligated to read the whole thing at once :)

So I have a huge fondness for bean dip. I mean, who doesn't - it's flavorful, creamy, and a perfect complement to salty chips. However, it was hot and sunny outside on the Fourth, so I wanted something light and refreshing for my afternoon snack. Light and refreshing aren't usually adjectives I would use to describe bean dip, but I remembered seeing a recipe from the New York Times for Garlic Scape and White Bean dip.

What on earth is a garlic scape? you might be wondering. These are garlic scapes:

They're the green tops from a garlic plant. They taste like if a scallion tasted like garlic - giving a lighter, sweeter garlic flavor with the refreshing crunch of a green. We bought ours from the Wooster Square farmer's market - they're hard to find in grocery stores. Anyhow, here's the recipe (adapted from the one I saw in the Times):

1 can cannelini beans
2-3 garlic scapes
olive oil
lemon juice
sea salt

Drain the cannelini beans and give them a good rinse in cold water to get all that salty bean juice from the can off:


Coarsley chop the garlic scapes, then add the chopped scapes and beans to a food processor. You can add as much scape as you want - if you really like garlic, add a bunch in, if you're not so sure, go on the conservative side. Give the food processor a whirr until the mixture looks like the picture below.

Before whirring:


After whirring:



I know, I know, it doesn't look all that appetizing yet. As you can see, we have a tiny-ass food processor, so I had to do the proccessing in batches.

Scoop the bean and scape mixture out of the food processor and into a bowl. Stir in olive oil, lemon juice, and sea salt to taste. I didn't measure any of this - you just have to go slow and taste along the way. If you want the dip to be creamier, add more olive oil. If it tastes too thick and you want it to taste fresher, add more lemon juice. As for the salt - well, you know what salt tastes like. Stop when there's enough. Once it tastes good to you, throw it back in the food processor and whirr it again for a few seconds, just to make sure everything is uniformly combined. Serve it with Triscuits and Wheat thins like we did, or with raw veggies or anything else you think would taste good. This literally lasted twenty minutes between five of us:



You should definiely try it - it's an awesome summer afternoon snack, super easy, and you'll really impress people by using an ingredient they've never heard of :)

Crepes and Scapes - a belated Independence day post (part 1)

For dinner on the Fourth, we did pretty much what everyone does - Ferraro's hot dogs and veggies on the grill, watermelon, beer, and a delicious berry cobbler (I use the term loosely) thing courtesy of some friends :) While delicious, our culinary escapades earlier in the day were significantly more exciting, or at least unusual, and thus the topic of this post.

After rolling out of bed Saturday morning, we decided to kick off our celebration of America with something decidedly un-American: Crepes

For some reason, crepes don't often appear on the tables of your everyday American family. They're actually super easy to make - definitely on par with pancakes and waffles. So, next time you're in the mood for a tasty brunch, dessert, or snack and think "wow, I really wish there was a crepe stand down the street because those things are so thin there's no way I can make them myself" have no fear - here's how to do it.

Here's the batter recipe, courtesy of Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything"
1 cup all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 Tbsp sugar (if you're making sweet crepes - which, I mean, why wouldn't you be?)
1 1/4 cups milk
2 eggs
2 Tbsp butter melted and cooled, plus more for the crepe pan

Whisk together all the ingredients, and, if you're feeling patient (which Ben and I never are), refrigerate the mixture for at least an hour and up to 24.

A note on melting butter: if you're like any other 21-year old in the country, you'll want to do this in a microwave. Which is fine, but heed these instructions - microwave in VERY small increments. I'm talking like ten seconds, taking out and stirring in between. Otherwise, the butter will spatter and you'll lose half of it. It's also smart to put something like a paper towel over whatever you're microwaving in, so that if it does spatter, the inside of your microwave won't be covered in butter.

Anyhow, once your batter is ready, put an 8 or 10 inch skillet over medium heat, wait a few minutes, then add a small pat of butter (enough to grease the pan)

Getting the right amount of batter in the pan is the hardest part. You need enough so that it can swirl around and coat the bottom of the pan, but not so much that it gets thick and un-crepe like.
Pour in a few tablespoons, and swirl it around the pan as Ben is so graciously demonstrating here:

When the top of the crepe is dry (after about a minute), flip the crepe over and cook for another 15-30 seconds, until it just starts to brown. DO NOT let it get crispy.

Swirling and flipping the crepe correctly will probably take some practice, so don't be disheartened if the first few are a little ugly - they still taste good, I promise.

Once you've removed the crepe from the pan, it's filling time! On this particular occasion we used various combinations of nutella, chocolate chips, butter, cinnamon and sugar, honey, and frozen raspberries and blueberries (hey this is starting to get patriotic!)

When your crepe is done cooking, take it out of the pan and place it in a baking dish:


Note: Ben is not demonstrating proper crepe technique here. It's not smart to dangle your crepe so precariously over the floor, especially if you have a dog.

Place your selected filling on the bottom third of the crepe like so:


This one has berries and chocolate chips. Roll the crepe up like a burrito, and arrange it in the pan with the others.



For the last few crepes, we added some cocoa to the batter to make chocolate ones. If you want the insides to get nice and gooey and heated through, put your pan in the oven on low heat (325 or so) for about 10 minutes. Here's the finished product:


Top them off with syrup or whipped cream, or just eat them plain - the best thing about crepes is how personalizable they are. These were a great start to a day filled with delicious food.