Mexican Hotdogs

When making a themed dog, the key is to consider what elements of the target cuisine you are going to incorporate. For Mexican, obviously burritos aren’t really practical, and while a tasty carnitas taco could work, fajitas and nachos are probably the quickest and easiest – this recipe has both!

I have tried a few recipes for Mexican hotdogs, this one is a combination of all the best bits from first hand research!

Most you’ll find say to wrap the dog in bacon, but I think this makes them unnecessarily hard to eat. Fail to chomp through it properly and you’re going to end up with a mess of hod dog toppings on your plate (or down your t-shirt). Instead use a pack of smoked lardons/pancetta – or simply finely dice some bacon and fry it.

Here we’re going to make the salsa and guacamole from scratch, they really will be better and fresher than a jar of pre-made, but you can cheat if you really must. The cheese sauce is essential, it’s hard to find a good pre-made nacho cheese in the UK, but this one is so easy it’s not really a problem. The key is evaporated milk.

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE HOT DOGS:

• 4 hot dogs
• 4 smoky bacon strips (or smoked lardons)
• 2 jalapeños, halved lengthwise and stem/seeds removed
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
• 4 posh hot dog buns
• 1 bag of crispy nachos/tortillas

FOR THE CHEESE SAUCE:

• Small 170g can of evaporated milk
• 100g of grated cheddar
• 1/2 tablespoon of cornflour
• 1 tsp hot sauce

FOR THE GUACAMOLE:

• An avocado
• Cherry tomatoes
• A little bit of onion
• A few strips of red pepper
• Fresh coriander
• Lime juice

FOR THE SALSA:

• Cherry tomatoes
• Red onion
• Fresh coriander
• Lime juice
• Red chilli

PREPARATION

1. Heat oven to 180C. Put the dogs on a baking sheet along with the jalapeños, skin-side down, and lightly drizzle with oil.
2. Roast jalapeños and hotdogs for 20-25 minutes.
3. Get the cheese sauce on. Tip the grated cheese into a pan, add the cornflour, toss to coat the cheese, then add the evap and turn the heat onto low. Just remember to stir occasionally and it’ll be done when melted.
4. Finely dice the white onion, and slice the pepper into strips. Save a little bit of onion and a couple of strips of pepper for the guacamole, add the bacon and then start to fry over a medium heat.
5. Stir to occasionally to avoid burning and remove from heat when onions are caramelized and peppers are soft, about 15-20 minutes.
6. To make the guacamole mash up the avocado with a bit of lime juice and some coriander, dice up the reserved onion and the pepper a bit more and mix it in. You can borrow a bit of red onion from the salsa too if you like. Take a couple of cherry tomatoes and dice them up as small as possible – mix those in too. Add a few chilli flakes if that’s your bag.
7. For the salsa, add all the ingredients to a blender and give it a whizz until it is your desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and set aside.
8. When everything is ready it’s time to assemble:
   1. Firstly, slice the buns – are they super soft? If not splash a bit of water on them and microwave them for 10 seconds. (You can steam them, but a quick blast in the microwave is a bit less faff)
   2. Add a layer of guacamole to the bottom of each bun
   3. Add the dog
   4. Top with salsa
   5. Spoon over the fajita mix
   6. Pour over some cheese sauce
   7. Sprinkle over a few broken nachos
   8. Finish with half a roasted jalapeño.