A recent visit to Yankee Stadium, for business, got me thinking about hot dogs. The last time I saw the Bronx Bombers in action I was eleven or twelve years old – and it was in the house that Ruth built, not the new stadium of today. I can still hear the New Yorky sounds of the old stadium hawkers as they tripped up and down the aisles amongst the fans:
“Beeer Heeeah!” “Hot Dogs Heeeah!” “Peanuts Heeeah!” “Soda Heeeah!.”
There was a time when a nuclear family could spend a day at the stadium, get a hot dog and a soda and still be able to pay the electric bill. No more. Today you have to take out a 2nd mortgage.
Nostalgia aside, the subject of this recipe is not your typical stadium frank, nor is it even a New York weenie. This bad boy comes from New Jersey. Yup, New Jersey. Probably some paisan in Bayonne wanted to make sausage and peppers – forgot to buy sausage – found a pack of hot dogs in the fridge and said “why not?” He liked it so much that he slapped some home fries on it in the morning and had it again for breakfast. The Italian hot dog was born.
Need This
4 bun-length hot dogs
4 bell peppers (any color)
1 large onion
3 – 15 ounce cans of supermarket brand sliced potatoes
4 – 7″ hoagie (or steak) rolls
Olive oil
Mustard
Dried oregano
Salt
Ground black pepper
Do This
Slice the onion and bell peppers up into strips.
Open the cans of potatoes. Dump the potatoes into a colander to drain off all the water.
Get out 2 large frying pans. Put a couple of glugs of olive oil in each pan and set them on burners – medium heat.
Throw the sliced peppers and onions in one pan and the sliced potatoes in the other.
Fry the peppers and onions, turning frequently, until they just begin to soften – around 7 minutes.
The potatoes will take longer – about 15 – 20 minutes until they are nicely browned on both sides – like hash browns. Season the potatoes with salt, black pepper and a good dusting of the dried oregano near the end of their cooking time.
When the potatoes are done, dump the fried peppers and onions into the pan with the potatoes and stir it all together.
Fry the hot dogs, preferably on an oiled griddle pan, until they get some good char lines on them.
Split the club rolls down the side with a knife – about 3/4 of the way through.
Shmear a good dollop of mustard on the insides of each of the split rolls.
Drop a hot dog in each roll and smother it with the fried peppers, onions and potatoes.
Serve immediately with an ice cold beer – preferably a Shaefer or Pabst Blue Ribbon* – and watch the game on TV.
Serves 4. My cost approx. $ 8.08 total – about $ 2.02 per serving (sans the beer).
*Avoid those snobby hipster beers like CatDog Head and such. If you want a fancy beer stick a lime or orange wedge into your PBR – there’s your fancy beer. GMN