For a long time now, I've been wanting to do what I did last night: make a whole mess of hot dogs -- all different kinds -- and stuff my face with every type. Believe me, I really had to work up an appetite to take down these boys and I gotta tell ya, I wouldn't recommend making all three then proceeding to eat them all...talk about a brick in your stomach. But all worth it for the sake of ChowGals.... So basically, crazy-topped hot dogs are all the rage this summer. I've seen them creeping around the web and the magazines in the past but in the past few months they have been in every magazine. I decided to really go for it -- what I love about these dogs is you can pick a theme and just roll with it -- mix up the ingredients like you would top a pizza! Today I have three really special dogs for you -- The BLT-Dog, The Lowcountry Dog and The All-American Dog! Feel free to get crazy and home-make all your ingredients {pimento cheese, pork bbq, coleslaw} or go ahead and get the store-bought stuff to make the preparations a little more manageable. The BLT-Dog: top your hot dog with chopped lettuce, tomato, cooked and crumbled bacon and drizzle with buttermilk ranch dressing
The Lowcountry Dog: top your dog with pimento cheese and pickled okra
The All-American Dog: top your dog with shredded pork BBQ and top with creamy coleslaw
If you are looking to make a truly Southern dish in your own home then this is it! This is a recipe from Hank's Seafood Restaurant Cookbook. Hank's is on list after list of a must-see restaurant if you head down to Charleston and this salad is on their current menu. I saw this recipe about a year ago in Southern Living magazine and I have been dying to try it out so I finally bit the bullet. My husband, who isn't a huge oyster fan, absolutely loved it -- although pretty much anything is good when it's fried. The recipe calls for green tomatoes, but I used regular red tomatoes because I simply couldn't find green tomatoes anywhere! How is that possible? So what I love most about this salad is the pickled okra. If you haven't had pickled okra before then good Lord, get to the store and buy a jar immediately! It is so fantastic I could die. I ate the entire jar in one day. Yummy!
Fried Oysters with Green Tomato, Sweet Corn, Pickled Okra and Blue Cheese Vinaigrette (makes 4 salads) 2 c. cracker meal 1 c. cornmeal 1 c. all purpose flour salt and pepper peanut oil 2 large handfuls arugula 16 oysters 4 to 8 halved pickled okra Blue Cheese Vinaigrette 2 ears fresh corn 1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil 1 c. diced green tomato 1 1/2 c. chicken stock 2 tbsp chopped mixed herbs 3 tbsp crumbled blue cheese 1/2 c. cider vinegar 1 tsp salt 1/8 tsp pepper 1. For vinaigrette: cut corn from cobs, reserving cobs. Heat oil in saute pan, add corn and cook 1 minute. Cool. Combine stock and corn cobs in saucepan. Boil then reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Pour mixture through fine wire mesh strainer. Cool to room temperature and refrigerate. Stir green tomato into corn and stir into stock. Just before serving, add in herbs and blue cheese. 2. Pour 1 and 1/2 inches oil in a cast iron skillet; heat over medium high until temperature reaches 350. 3. Whisk cracker meal, flours, 2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper in shallow bowl. Dredge oysters in mixture, shaking off excess. Fry in batches 2 to 4 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels; sprinkle with salt and pepper. 4. Spoon vinaigrette onto 4 serving plates. Top with oysters and okra.
