I confess . . . I put my hand up. I like hot dogs, and not what passes for hotdogs over here in the UK . . . I mean the frankfurter type of hot dog . . . smoked and from the chiller cabinet, not a tin. Nothing grosser than a tinned hot dog. Trust me on this.
I always have a packet of smoked frankfurters in the refrigerator. We are not as lucky over here on choice as you are in North America. You can get chicken ones in some places, but ugh . . . there are no all beef franks, or turkey franks. Just smoked frankfurters imported from Germany, but they're pretty good so I am content with that.
Yes, I know what supposedly goes into them. It doesn't bother me. As long as I don't have to see it going in, I am fine. We've always been hot dog lovers in my family. Every Friday night the whole time I was growing up was hotdog night. My mom made the best hotdogs on the planet. The kids in the neighborhood vied for an invite to hotdog night. Seriously.
She would butter the buns and toast them in her electric grill until they were all toasty and crisp. Then she would split the hot dogs down the center almost all the way through and grill them in the electric grill as well. Oh boy. They were so good. That would be our Friday night supper . . . two of those, with lots of fried onions and relish and mustard . . . each one wrapped in a piece of paper kitchen toweling. Those and a bowl of ice cream. Heaven.
Sometimes on Saturday nights we would have hotdogs and chips for supper . . . frankfurters deep fried in hot fat along with chipped potatoes. So good. Seriously not that good for you, but it was only once in a blue moon. She also used to make Weiner Rolls.
What's a weiner roll you ask? Well, it's pastry rolled out, cut into rectangles large enough to cover a hotdog/weiner completely, spread with mustard and then rolled around the hotdog and baked until crisp and brown. Oh boy, did we ever love those. I still do, but they are really a once in a blue moon treat.
These are kind of similar, in a way . . . except they use refrigerated croissant dough . . . and instead of mustard . . . I make a kind of a curry mustard tomato ketchup pickle honey relish spread to slather over the dough. Then I sprinkle it with some grated strong cheddar cheese and roll the dough up around the frankfurter, like a croissant and leaving the ends of the dogs barking . . . I like to sprinkle some more cheese on top before baking.
They are then baked until they are crisp and brown . . . all hot and toasty and the cheese is oozing out a tiny bit. I could eat a ton of these, but I hold myself back to one . . . well, maybe one and a half. These are seriously good. They do down really well with a hot cup of soup on the side. ( The bits of cheese that melt and bake onto the baking sheet are mine, and get all toasty scrummy are mine . . . all mine!)
*Hot Dog Roll Ups*
Makes 6 (or possibly more,
l depending on what side of the pond you reside on!)Printable Recipe
Tasty dogs rolled up in flavourfilled croissant rolls. Perfect for lunch with a cup of hot soup!
6 smoked frankfurters1 tin of refrigerated Croissant rolls (ours contain six croissants)2 TBS tomato Ketchup1 tsp hot mustard1 tsp curry paste1 tsp liquid honey1 TBS sweet pickle relish or chopped sweet gerkins8 TBS grated strong cheddar cheese
Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a baking tray with baking parchment.
Stir together the ketchup, mustard, curry paste, liquid honey and sweet pickle relish. Open your tin of croissant rolls and separate them on the perferations. Spread some of the ketchup mixture over each roll. Sprinkle with 1 TBS of cheddar cheese. Place one hot dog on the wide end of each roll. Roll up as required. Place onto the baking paper. Repeat until all are rolled. Sprinkle the remaining 2 TBS of cheese over top evenly. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until nicely puffed and golden brown. Serve warm.