Dog Days of Summer

Put on the dog as you continue to pursue your barbecue with a few recipes to serve along with your hot dogs, adapted from Bark in Brooklyn. I sniffed ‘em out and promise they won’t bite!

Bark
474 Bergen Street, Brooklyn
718-789-1939
barkhotdogs.com

To make a really top dog, this is a great topping.

New York Style Sweet & Sour Onions
Serves 20-25 hot dogs
Ingredients
4 large white onions, thinly sliced
1 tsp. vegetable oil
½ tsp. salt
1 12 oz. can of whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes
¼ cup plus 2 T. red wine vinegar ¾ cup white sugar 1 T. salt, to taste, with 1 T. on reserve

Method
Heat a large wide pan over medium heat and add oil. When just smoking, add onions and salt and cook them until softened. While the onions are cooking, puree the tomato, vinegar, sugar, and add additional 1 T. salt in a blender until smooth. Add this mixture to onions and cook down until completely dry, about 25 minutes over low heat. Let cool overnight.

Who doesn’t love a side of slaw?

Bark Cole Slaw Dressing
Ingredients
2 ¼ cup mayonnaise
2 T. cider vinegar
¾ cup pickle juice
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. celery seed

Method
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

Slaw Ingredients
3 cups cabbage, thinly sliced
½ cup carrot, shredded
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. sugar
½ cup cole slaw dressing

Method
Mix the carrot and cabbage together and toss with 1 tsp. salt and ¼ tsp. sugar. Let sit for at least 4 hours, then drain and squeeze out liquid. Mix the dressing and drained vegetables together and serve.

Thanks to thelmagazine.com for the photo!

Baking Beans

"Beans, beans! Good for your heart! The more you eat the more you..." Well, you may know how the rest of that jaunty rhythm goes. I thought it was hysterical when I was growing up, but conversely I never liked beans. I love all kinds of legumes now and have tried to make baked beans several times from different recipes without much luck. However, I now believe, ladies and gentlemen, that I have a winner! Baby and I were at Chelsea Market over the weekend, where among other things, there was a chili fest. Bark from Brooklyn had a table and they had recipe cards for sweet and sour onions, cole slaw--and baked beans. I set to it right away, soaking my beans overnight before letting them slowly simmer for 12 hours (I've included the shorter version too, below)! This recipe calls for marfax beans (which I had never heard of) or cranberry beans but good luck finding either of those--I used the red kidney variety instead for this wonderful pot of soupy beans. As the rest of the bean anthem draws to its fairly gaseous conclusion, "The more you eat, the better you feel. Eat beans at every meal!"

Bark Baked Beans
Adapted from Bark of Brooklyn
Serves 8

To soak the beans:
1 lb. marfax, cranberry or red kidney beans
1 gal. water
1 pc. smoked ham hock

Seasoning mixture:
1 1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
2 oz. molasses (4 T)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 tsp. salt

To start:
2 tsp. grape seed oil
1/2 lb. smoked bacon, diced large
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Spanish onions, diced small
Pinch of salt

Soak beans with water and hock for at least 8 hours, or alternatively you can bring the water, beans and hock to a simmer, simmer for 5 minutes, then let sit for 1 hour.

Heat oven on low to about 250 degrees.

Cook bacon stove top in grape seed oil in an oven ready pan, then add garlic and onion and cook slowly. Add seasoning mixture and mix through. Drain the beans and add them to the bacon-seasoning mixture pan, reserving the bean soaking water. Add bean soaking water to cover by 2 inches, then add smoked pork.

Bring to a simmer and bake in oven for 8-12 hours until cooked through.

Alternately, precook the beans and add to the seasoning mix to reduce cooking time in oven. If beans are precooked, bake in oven for 1 hour.

Do enjoy!