This naughty little indulgence is just what is needed at the moment. It reminds me of a date night at bubble dogs in Bloomsbury, sitting at the bar, legs tangled sipping on a chilled glass of champagne and biting into a delicious, decadent hotdog. This rebirth of hotdogs has elevated the humble hot dog to a delicacy worthy of a date night!
Recipe
Serves 2 people (2 hotdogs each)
Ingredients
1 pack of Herta frankfurters (you can buy a 4 pack or a bigger one if you are feeding more mouths) - In France, you can get veggie Herta frankfurters too! Hopefully, they will come to the UK soon
1 large onion
chunk of cheddar, grated
1/2 cucumber, cut into small quarters
finger butter brioche rolls - Forget brioche buns which are hard to find for hotdogs. Just pick up the french style brioche rolls in the bakery section. They look small but actually perfect size for frankfurters!
vinegar
sugar
salt
ketchup & mustard
Serve with a side of chips! Easy oven chips - evenly slice potato into chips, season with olive oil, salt & pepper and roast for 30 mins in the oven at 180-200C, checking regularly.
Method
Finely chop the onion into slithers. Heat up a pan with some oil and butter and cook the onions for 10 minutes on a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden and lightly caramelised.
Whilst the onions are cooking, wash and slice the cucumber and cut into small quarters.
Put the cucumber into a bowl and douse with vinegar. Any vinegar (apart from balsamic) will do although generally, white wine vinegar is what is used for pickling. Add a good pinch salt & 1-2 teaspoons of sugar. Give it a stir so the cucumber is coated in the pickling liquid and taste to see if you are happy with the seasoning.
Check on the onions and take them off the heat once they are soft and caramelised.
Grate some cheddar using a peeler or grater.
Open the brioches in half & toast in or over the toaster or in a pan, face down.
Heat the frankfurters following the instructions on the packet. (either in a dry pan, pan of boiling water or microwave until heated through)
Assemble the hotdogs! Bun, cheese, frankfurter, mustard/ketchup, onions & cucumber to finish!
It's a great date-night dish you can make together and feel free to add your own flourishes / favourite ingredients to personalise your hot dog!