dogging it up

When I return from my trips, I always have a group of photographs I really like, but they never managed to fit into one of my in situ essays.

That is true of this trip. I have a collection from Zacatecas, Real de Catorce, and San Luis Potosi that I will share with you over the next few days. Maybe Zacatecas later today.

But I just made lunch, and I want to share a bit of it with you.

My refrigerator is rather bare. I will go shopping this evening, but I decided to do my Lynne Rossetto Kasper for lunch. I will make my lunch out of the few ingredients I have available. The only rule is that I cannot have eaten the dish in the past. It must be new.

I found a partially used tub of crema (what is often foisted off as sour cream in these parts, but isn't), a couple of Kirkland frozen hot dogs. a shallot, some kalamatas, a red onion, a serrano, an habanero, a sprig of cilantro I stole from Omar's school cooking project, and a couple slices of bacon.

Following the general principles of cooking (thank you, Pam Anderson), I knew I had a winner in the making. What I decided to try was a huge riff off of the blandly boring "hot dog with sour cream and bacon." 

I turned the crema into sour cream with the juice of a lime.  Sour cream with a soupçon of Mexico. I then mixed some raw chopped red onion into the sour cream bowl.

I slowly fried the bacon slices resulting in a bit of bacon grease in the pan. I sliced the bacon. So far. as traditional as a Fourth of July picnic.

Then came the twist. I fried up black mustard, caraway, and cilantro seeds, and then added the shallot, the chilies (and, yes, it momentarily transported the kitchen into what President Maduro enjoys doing to his people), the kalamatas, and the cilantro (in that order) until each was tender -- and topped off with a return of the bacon to the pan.

The savory was mixed into the bowl with the raw onion and sour cream. I put it into the refrigerator for a half-hour to let the sour cream tighten up.

While it was chilling, I grilled the two wieners while Omar ran to the store for me to buy my only concession to a new ingredient -- hot dog buns. Two of them I toasted.

The result? I guess I already told you that. It was a home run. The salsa would work well with a plate of bucatini, but today was hot dog day.

When I started this regimen of not eating a dish I have eaten before (or recall eating), I thought it was going to be difficult. I was wrong. It has been simple -- once I got the hang of what to do. Not eating at restaurants helps.

Cooking at home makes the task easy. Eating out has been a bit more difficult. But, even in Mexican restaurants (which are notorious for a lack of variety -- at least within their own regions), there is usually something on the menu that the cook has made a specialty.

But I do not need to worry about that today. Two hot dogs topped with salsa de estif accompanied by a glass of mineral water and lime is enough to make my culinary day.

Now, what about tonight?