The Other Guys & Pretzel Nirvana

Having been crazy busy the last few weeks straight, The Other Guys (2010; starring Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, The Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, and Michael Keaton) was a last-minute movie selection since Lindsey had the DVD in hand and neither of us had seen it.

It made me laugh a few times, like during the scene with whisper fighting, and had some street food references built right in:

In addition to the ice cream truck and hot dog stand, there's also: coffee, fresh strawberries, sugar balls, Arnold Palmers, Guinness, water with cucumber, mustard, bourbon, and mike's hard lemonade.

Movie Rating:

Plot: 1.5 stars

Cinematography: 1.5 stars

Acting: 1.5 stars
Average: 1.5 stars

Movie stills found here

For dinner, I ran with the NYC street food idea. Searching through tastespotting.com, I found this recipe for pretzel-wrapped hot dogs and paired it with big dill pickles from the deli and a new cole slaw recipe, found here.

Honestly, I still can't quite believe it. We made amazing soft pretzels from scratch. And they were easy! Wrapped around a hot dog, dipped in mustard, I'd even say they were divine.

Unfortunately, our slaw didn't quite hit the mark--we both wanted it to be sweeter, so I'd tweak the recipe to add honey or sugar next time. It was really pretty though, made with green cabbage, granny smith apple, and slivered almond and the tiny black poppy seed specks that provided a nice texture as well.

PRETZEL DOGS

Makes 16 wrapped half-dogs

Ingredients

For the dough:

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 TB sugar

2 tsp kosher salt

1 package active dry yeast

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 TB unsalted butter, melted and cooled

8 hot dogs, cut in half (Nathan's to be supremely accurate)

For boiling (where the pretzel magic happens!):

10 cups water

2/3 cup baking soda

To finish:

1 large egg yolk, beaten with 1 TB water

Pretzel salt (or kosher salt), for topping

Directions

Combine the warm water, sugar, and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. If you use active dry yeast, let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes, until it's foamy and begins to smell of yeast. [If using instant yeast, let the mixture sit for a couple minutes to dissolve the yeast and then proceed--it won't be foamy.]

Add the flour and butter to the yeast mixture. Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer and, on medium-low speed, combine the mixture until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and appears shiny, roughly 4 to 5 minutes.

Spray a large bowl with non-stick spray (or lightly grease with vegetable oil) and place dough in bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, place bowl in a warm area, and let dough rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Place the dough on a greased surface, and divide into 16 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope, roughly 12 inches long. Carefully wrap each piece around a half hot dog. Pinch the ends together to seal the dough and keep it from unravelling.

In a large pot, combine 10 cups of water and the baking soda, stirring to dissolve. Bring the liquid to a rolling boil.

Carefully place a couple of pretzel-wrapped hot dogs in the pot and allow them to boil for 30-45 seconds. Using a slotted spatula, remove each pretzel dog from the water and place it on a drying rack to allow any excess liquid to drip off.

Once all the pretzels are boiled, place them on parchment lined baking sheets. Brush each with beaten egg yolk and sprinkle with salt. Bake until golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer pretzel dogs to a cooling rack for a few minutes before serving. Dip in your favorite mustard(s) and enjoy!

P.S. The Kosciusko mustard was our favorite! Also, if you have leftover dough, plain pretzels can be made by simply omitting the weiner halves and forming the dough into sticks, twists, nuggets, etc., boiling and baking. Yum!

APPLE & POPPY SEED COLESLAW

Serves 6

Ingredients

For the dressing:

Juice of 1 lemon

2 TB mayonnaise

3 TB olive oil

1 TB apple cider vinegar

1 TB poppy seeds

1 tsp salt

freshly ground pepper

1 green apple, cored and julienned

4 cups sliced cabbage (from one small head)

1 cup slivered almonds

Directions

Whisk the dressing ingredients together until well combined. Place the apple and cabbage in a large bowl and toss with the dressing. Cover and let stand for about an hour. Just before serving, toss in the slivered almonds.

Dinner Rating:
Movie Relevance: 4.5 stars

Taste: 5 stars

Average: 4.75 stars