DODGER DOGS with FARMERS' MARKET FRESH TOPPINGS {recipe}

DODGER DOGS with FARMERS MARKET FRESH TOPPINGS {recipe}

Baseball's season is summer, right when the farmers' markets are overflowing with literal tons of fresh fruits and vegetables. But the scheduling of the World Series has the sport bleeding into Fall, and not just early Fall, but deep, like into November. Corn and tomatoes aren't (supposed to be) available at the farmers' market as late as November, so depending on when you're making and eating these Dodge Dogs, adjust your farmers' market ingredients to the season.

makes a lot of hot dogs

INGREDIENTS

ballpark-style hot dogs
buns
butter
avocado, sliced
tomato, sliced
farmers market pico de gallo (recipe below)
pickled onions
chopped fresh herbs like basil, cilantro, parsley, and even mint
additional suggestions for toppings: chopped fresh onions, sliced fresh or pickled jalapeños, sauteed zucchini, cheese

to serve: ketchup, mustard, salsa, hot sauce, grilled corn, sweet potato chips

DIRECTIONS

Heat grill or grill pan. Place hot dogs on grill.

Split open the hot dog buns along one side only and lightly butter the inside and outside of the hot dog buns. Close the buns and place on the grill.

The buns will heat and be ready before the hot dogs. Remove the buns from the grill to a plate. Once the hot dogs are heated through, remove them from the grill to a plate.

When ready to eat, split open each hot dog bun. Place a couple of slices of avocado along one side of the bun, and a couple of slices of fresh tomato along the other side. Nestle a grilled hot dog between the avocado and tomato. Top the hot dog with the Farmers Market Pico de Gallo, pickled onions, fresh herbs, and any of the additional suggested toppings you like.

Serve the dressed hot dogs with grilled or roasted buttered corn and sweet potato chips. Ketchup, mustard, salsa, and hot sauce are natural accompaniments to the hot dogs.

FARMERS MARKET PICO DE GALLO {recipe}

Pico de gallo is a type of fresh salsa ("salsa fresca") made from onions, peppers, and most typically, tomatoes. Other somewhat soft, sweet and slightly acidic fruits and vegetables can stand in for the tomatoes. In the summer, stone fruits, particularly tart plums, or nectarines as shown here, are an obvious swap. In the fall, when the World Series actually takes place, you can use persimmons or pomegranates.

makes about 1½ cups

INGREDIENTS

½ medium red onion, peeled and chopped
1 jalapeño, finely chopped
2 nectarines or peaches, chopped into pieces the same size as the onion
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
juice from half a lime
½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

DIRECTIONS

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl. Taste, and adjust to taste with salt or jalapeño.

Serve the Pico de Gallo immediately. Pico de Gallo generally doesn't keep for a long time. Store any leftovers in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 day. I recommend that instead of storing leftovers, you just eat it all up with tortilla chips.

My hometown team, the Dodgers, didn't make it to the World Series this year. Not that I care, since Los Angeles isn't technically my hometown, Detroit is. But loyalty is not really the reason I don't care about the World Series this year. I just don't care about baseball at all. I have only ever gone to one live Dodgers game, maaaybe two, my not knowing for sure a clear indication of how little it mattered to me.

I find the game boring. Which isn't a fair statement because it isn't specific, similar to someone else simply saying, I find food, you know, boring. My 6-year-old nephew says this to me and I cannot for the life of me understand how food can be boring. Yet to him, he would rather swallow one pill once a week for nutrition and never have to waste the time nor the energy to physically go through the motion of eating food. It takes too long, it's not fun, it's not interactive, he'd rather be hanging out with everyone online by himself.

Every part of the previous sentence applies to my feelings about baseball; the last clause applies to my life.

There are only two ways that could possibly make a baseball game watchable for me. One is watching the game on TV at home, which means I can change the channel and not watch the game.

Two is the promise of any and all amounts of the trash food at the stadium, including but not limited to garlic fries, terrible pizza ("is still pizza"), and "nachos" that are nothing more than hard tortilla chips that are flat, round circles, the worst shape design for a tortilla chip because it does not fit into the tiny plastic cup, and thus makes it impossible to maximize a scoop of cheese. I don't care. I will scrape the cheese out with broken chips. I will stick my lizard tongue into the cup to lick out every last drop of that melted nuclear yellow vinyl "cheese." I will use a discarded piece of pizza crust because it's softer and more flexible and can get after that cheese like a ScotchBrite kitchen sponge.

And of course, Dodger Dogs.

I have no idea if what we call "Dodger Dogs," ballpark hot dogs that are extra long at 18-inches, exist in other cities under a different name. I don't remember Detroit Tiger Dogs, or Cincinnati Red Dogs, and I don't know if San Antonio has a team. I guess it doesn't matter. It's the soft bun. It's the salty, snappy frank. And in the case of making Dodger Dogs at home, all the farmers' market fresh toppings to make them a lot less boring than ketchup and mustard.