Weenie Panini

I’ve written elsewhere that one of the pleasures of having a CSA share this summer is deciding what to make for dinner from what’s available in this week’s harvest and whatever remains from the previous week. Last night, I began with the assumption that the main vegetable we’d have would be the sweet corn that came in yesterday’s box, steamed, and lathered with the roasted garlic herbed butter I’d made last week. But what main course? One possibility was to make the sweet corn the main course, accompanied by a mixed green salad with cucumber, carrot, and tomato. But I also found some frozen “gourmet hot dogs” (oxymoron?), the last remaining item from an Omaha Steaks order three months ago. But we’re not big hot dog fans, and there weren’t any hot dog buns either. But we did have some hamburger buns, so my first idea was to grill the hot dogs, split them, and serve them on the hamburger buns. However, that seemed a rather meager disguise for what would still be a hot dog. Then it struck me that I could make a “hot dog salad” panini, a perfect companion for the corn. Here’s the resulting recipe for my “Weenie Panini”:

INGREDIENTS

4 hot dogs (“gourmet” or otherwise)
1 chili pepper (to taste/heat; I used the skinny red pepper in this week’s box — cayenne?)
2 cloves garlic
¼+ c dill pickle relish (which I made from our cucs two weeks ago)
1+ T Dijon mustard
2+ T mayo
Salt and pepper
Bread (I used hamburger buns because that’s all I had)
Mozzarella cheese (fresh)
Arugula
Tomato

METHOD

(1) This may not be necessary (the hot dogs are already cooked), but I grilled the hot dogs on my panini grill for about 5 minutes.
(2) While the hot dogs cook, pulse to a dice the chili pepper and garlic (and pickles if not already a relish) in a food processor.
(3) Cut the hot dogs into pieces, add to processor, and pulse all to a fine dice.
(4) In a medium bowl, fold the mustard and mayo (and relish if need be) into the weenie dice. Salt and pepper to taste.
(5) Spread a desired amount of the weenie dice on the bottom half of a bun. Add a clump of arugula. Add a slice of tomato. Add a slice or two of mozzarella cheese. Top with upper half of bun.
(6) Cook in a panini press for about 5 minutes on medium.

The above is what I did, based on what I had available. And it turned out surprisingly good. The weenie salad is the center of the dish, and it could obviously be used as a spread in any kind of sandwich or crostini or whatever. It’s at least a good way of disguising hot dogs if that should be your wish.