Red Hot Dogs! Get Your Red Hot Dogs Here!

There's not a whole lot of things you can get in Arkansas that you can't get in Arizona, but one of those things is King Cotton hot dogs. And bacon. But that's a different lunch. King Cotton hot dogs come in a couple different price levels, but the best ones are the cheapest ones. Kinda skinny, kinda salty, and really really red. The kind that can stain a porcelain sink pink if you dump out the boilin' water without rinsing it quick enough. God I miss 'em.

Anyway, I guess folks out here in Arizona don't like cheap, salty red hot dogs. Or at least that's what I used to think. Apparently I was wrong. Mexican people like red hot dogs! Okay, that may be a little bit of a generalization. Not trying to sterotype anyone here, but I did find a huge display of gorgeous red hot dogs at Ranch Market this weekend. Now admittedly they aren't King Cotton, and the texture is maybe a little mushier, but they are cheap, skinny, salty, and RED! We grilled 'em up and ate like a bunch of 7 year olds in a hurry to get back in the pool. Except we had black bean and pasta salad instead of greasy potato chips on the side.

And the leftovers were for lunch.




Check out the awesome redness! The pasta underneath picked up some pink.





This one was Boo's. She'd probably be jealous if she knew I got a hotdog flower and she didn't.


Black Bean Pasta Salad

Boil, rinse and drain 1/2 pound of dry pasta. Dump in a bowl. Rinse and drain a can of beans. Dump in the bowl with the pasta. Chop up some vegetables. I used red bell pepper, green onions and flat leaf parsley. Dump in the bowl with the pasta and beans. Throw some dressing on top. Stir. Chill. Stir. Serve.

Basic Vinaigrette

1 clove garlic
1 t mustard
3 T vinegar
1/2 c oil
pinch of salt
grind of black pepper

Put all of this stuff in a blender and let her rip. When it looks creamy, it's done.

For this pasta salad I used balsamic vinegar and olive oil, but you can use whatever you have on hand. Mix and match oils and vinegars for something new and exciting. Sometimes I add a bit of nut or sesame oil, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I add some herbs, sometimes I don't. I like my vinaigrette pretty vinegary - if you don't cut the vinegar back to 2 tablespoons. Or add more oil. You really can't mess this up.

Recipes always say to drizzle the oil in slowly blah blah blah like you're mixing up some enriched uranium or Italian buttercream with danger lurking all around. Not so! I have Sue over at Food Network Musings to thank for setting me straight on this. Dump it in the blender. Emulsify. Works every time.