Buffalo Chicken Soup

Up till I made this soup myself, I had never eaten Buffalo chicken soup before. But my curiosity was piqued when one of our friends made it recently. That was all good and fine till I learned it was made from canned cream-of-something and rotisserie chicken. Hmm. I thought, “I can do better than that,” so off to the kitchen I went and came up with this! I can’t compare it, of course, but I was very happy with how it came out. And, if the weather in your neck of the woods is anything like it’s been here in the Land of Steady Habits of late (extended periods of cooler, windier and grayer than it should be!), you may have noticed it’s excellent weather for nice, comforting soup like this. Andiamo, let’s shuffle off to Buffalo!

BUFFALO CHICKEN SOUP

3 carrots (guess how we cut them? HA HA HA!)
3 stalks celery
½ large sweet onion
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic
½ stick butter, salted (1/4 cup)
¾ – 1 pound chicken, cubed
4 tablespoons flour to form a roux with the butter/veggies/chicken
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup Frank’s Red Hot
1 cup shredded cheddar (I like Cabot’s Seriously Sharp)
Salt & pepper to taste

In a large stockpot, melt butter. Cook the celery, onion, carrots and jalapeno in melted butter till tender.  Add chicken; cook till chicken is not pink. Stir in flour to form a roux.

Stir in broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add milk, Frank’s Red Hot and shredded cheddar. Season with salt and pepper to taste. When the cheese has melted and soup has thickened slightly, it’s time to eat!

And there we have it–homemade goodness in a bowl. “I believe in the sunshine, even when it rains!” How about you, amici? “I feel it–and I believe it!”

 

Sweet Noodle Kugel – A Tale of Two Kugels, Part 2

As promised in part 1 of this tale, I riffed on Aunt Ellen’s recipe to come up with a sweet noodle kugel. If you roll on the sweet side of the street, you may be drawn to this version with brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins, dried apricots and tart cherry preserves. I guess you could call it dessert, but I also called it breakfast for several days.

SWEET NOODLE KUGEL
1 pound full-fat cottage cheese, small curd
1 pound full-fat sour cream
(See a pattern emerging here?)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened (Neufchâtel is fine and welcome at the otherwise full-fat party)
4 large eggs
12 oz. bag of egg noodles

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
½ cup golden raisins*
½ cup apricots, diced*
¼ cup tart cherry preserves
½ cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt

*Soak in hot water before you start combining everything.

Topping
½ stick salted butter for topping
crushed cornflakes on top
1 teaspoonful or more light brown sugar to sprinkle over the cornflakes

Butter a deep baking dish (my 10 x 13″ one does the trick nicely), preheat oven to 375 degrees F and set aside.

Using a stand mixer, whisk cream cheese with vanilla and almond extracts. Add eggs, whisk to combine. Add cottage cheese and sour cream.

Boil noodles according to package instructions, drain. Combine noodles with eggs, cottage cheese and sour cream mixture. Drain raisins and apricots, add to noodles with tart cherry preserves, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

Fill baking dish with noodle kugel. Crush cornflakes over top. Dot with butter. Be generous–I use almost half a stick. Sprinkle a teaspoon or so of light brown sugar evenly over the cornflakes. Once again, you’ll want to be sure your oven rack is right in the middle. Bake at 375 degrees F for 1 hour. Take a peek around 50 minutes to make sure the top isn’t burning–just in case your oven runs any hotter than mine. If need be, cover top with foil. I didn’t have to do this–hopefully, you won’t either.

Ah, kugel, sweet kugel. How sweet it is! Na zdrowie! L’chaim!

 

Noodle Kugel – A Tale of Two Kugels, Part 1: The Savory

One of my favorite (non-Italian) comfort foods is noodle kugel. It’s a heavy hit of all things rich and delicious, and you’d best believe only full-fat dairy is invited to this particular party.

Though this is a minor adaptation of my Aunt Ellen’s recipe (I added cornflakes to top it, as many people do), I’m pretty sure this is everyone’s noodle kugel recipe. It’s super simple and so satisfying. You can eat it as a side dish, make it your main meal with a vegetable or even eat the leftovers for lunch or breakfast as I do! It heats up beautifully with a splash of milk in the microwave.

NOODLE KUGEL

1 pound full-fat cottage cheese, small curd
1 pound full-fat sour cream
4 large eggs
12 oz. bag of egg noodles

Topping
handfuls of crushed cornflakes
1/2 stick (or so) of butter

Whisk eggs, combine with cottage cheese and sour cream. Boil noodles according to package instructions, drain. Combine noodles with eggs, cottage cheese and sour cream mixture.

Butter a 10″ pie plate. Fill with noodle kugel. Crush cornflakes over top. Dot with butter. Be generous–I use almost half a stick. Sprinkle with salt. You’ll want to be sure your oven rack is right in the middle. Bake at 375 degrees F for 1 hour. Take a peek around 50 minutes to make sure the top isn’t burning–just in case your oven runs a bit hotter than mine. If need be, cover top with foil. I didn’t have to do this–hopefully, you won’t either.

Now that I’ve shared part 1, perhaps you’re wondering about part 2! It’s the same story with a sweet twist–brown sugar, cinnamon, dried fruit and tart cherry preserves. No one made it in my family, so I riffed on this base recipe and made my own. Share with you soon!

 

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

What say we go green for St. Patrick’s Day? I’m servin’ up broccoli cheese soup family style! I found an old recipe my cousin Michael had written out for my mom years ago–try 30 of them or more probably. It’s officially from “the restaurant” as evidenced by the now faded yellow order slip it’s written on.

That was my jump-off point, but Mike’s soup was cream of broccoli. I wanted some cheese in the mix, so I added cheddar in place of the cream and changed up the prep and seasonings a bit. We are family, regardless, so we are genetically predisposed to crank out tasty recipes. Give this a try and see what you think!

BROCCOLI CHEDDAR SOUP

1/2 stick salted butter (4 tablespoons)
1.5 pounds broccoli
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup flour
1.5 cups whole milk
1 cup shredded cheddar (I really like Cabot’s Seriously Sharp, as you may already know)
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
healthy pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Melt the butter in a large stockpot over medium heat; add onion, garlic and broccoli. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring as you go. Next, add the chicken stock, bay leaves, nutmeg and cayenne. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Discard the bay leaves. Move the vegetables over to the other side of the pan to create a small space where you can whisk in the flour. Just add it gradually and whisk, whisk, whisk! Now you can add the milk and cheese. Remember, we’re on simmer now. Stay there, and when everything melts together, remove from the heat. It’s time to grab the stick! YES, I finally bought a stick blender!

If you’d like some pieces of broccoli to remain whole (rather than to puree the entire pot), take out a cup or so of florets as I did. Then, fire away and blend up that broccoli! Return the florets to the soup and add 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Freshly cracked black pepper is a nice addition, too.

Soup’s on! Are you hungry? Let’s eat! And may the luck of the Irish be with ya today! Sláinte!

 

Pasta Fazool (Pasta e Fagioli) alla Katty

My mom, a.k.a. Janey, had a bad case of laryngitis this past week. We come from a long line of chiacchierone (chatterboxes), so imagine what it’s like NOT TO TALK–not even whisper! Apparently, that makes it worse. It’s almost like trying to speak while sitting on your hands (another genetic affliction, HA HA). I thought it would be a good time to make some pasta fazool, or pasta e fagioli, if we’re being proper and not speaking in the dialect.

Mine is a riff on one of Giada’s recipes. Funny sidebar about Giada while we’re talking about my mom: you may have noticed “Jane” isn’t an Italian name. So, Poppy’s parents, who emigrated here in the early 1900s, called my mom “Giadi”–rhymes with Marie.

Little Giadi

Little Giadi had that touch of mischief in her then, and still displays it proudly now, at age 77. I’m happy to report her voice has returned today. Was it the magic of my pasta fazool? I’ll never know. What I do know is we both really like this recipe. So, andiamo–let’s get cookin’!

PASTA FAZOOL (PASTA E FAGIOLI) ALLA KATTY

4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 large sprig fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 carrots (4 if they’re smaller, as the organic ones often are), crinkle-cut…this is how we roll in ma famiglia!
2 stalks celery, diced
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
1 pound chicken sausage (local folks, please try the sun-dried tomato version at Lino’s Market in Durham)
4 cloves garlic, pressed
5 cups chicken stock (my current favorite is Kitchen Basics stock in a box)
1 cup Meridian chardonnay or dry white wine (I very much like to cook with Meridian and don’t mind drinking it, either!)
2 (14.5-ounce) cans white beans, drained and rinsed—my fave are small white beans from Goya, cannellini beans are another good choice, just a little bigger
1 cup of your favorite small-bite-sized pasta, uncooked: I used Sclafani cavatelli, but like Barilla pipette, too
Freshly ground black pepper
½ – 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (I frequently use Aleppo pepper)

You’ll want to have some grated Pecorino Romano on hand for serving, too.

In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Saute till the onions are tender, about 3 minutes. Add sausage (casings removed), cook and break into small pieces as you go.

Once the sausage has cooked, add broth, wine, beans and herbs–just toss the sprigs of thyme and rosemary right in there with the bay leaf. You’ll remove them after the flavor has cooked in a bit. Bring to a boil over high heat, add pasta and then decrease the heat to a simmer for the amount of time the pasta needs to cook. See package directions based on the shape you choose. Discard the herbs.

Add freshly ground black pepper and crushed red pepper to taste. Serve with Pecorino Romano.

Poppy, Janey and Nanny (1979) at 216. My mom in this picture is the same age I am today.

 

Katty Head (Cat Head) Biscuits

I’ve been loving cat head biscuits, as taught to me by Cook’s Country, since I first made them earlier this year. But biscuits big as a cat’s head are, well, BIG. Half a cup of dough BIG. That’s a lotta biscuit! I, for one, prefer something a bit smaller. Especially since I have a desk job and am not busily working on the railroad, as did those who ate real cat head biscuits back in the day!

The original recipe calls for unsalted butter, which, till now, I’ve dutifully purchased expressly for biscuit-making. When I do buy unsalted butter, by the way, I love Kate’s. But today, I’ve adapted these fine biscuits from cat head to katty head–just 1/3 cup of dough instead of 1/2–and adjusted the amount of salt so I can use salted butter, which I ALWAYS have in the fridge or freezer. HOORAY! Shall I show you the way?

KATTY HEAD (CAT HEAD) BISCUITS
adapted from Cook’s Country

1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
3/8 teaspoon salt*
8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted* butter, cut into ½-inch pieces and softened
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening, cut into ½-inch pieces
1¼ cups buttermilk (I’ve been buying Organic Valley lowfat cultured buttermilk)

*If you do use unsalted butter, use 1 teaspoon of salt instead of 3/8 teaspoon.

Adjust oven rack to the upper-middle position and preheat to 425 degrees. Meantime, butter a 10-inch round baking dish or cake pan. I just happen to have a covered baking dish, perfect for both baking (uncovered, of course!) then storing the katty heads!

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Rub butter and shortening into flour mixture with your fingers until it’s the consistency of cornmeal or slightly wet sand. Give yourself a little time to do this; it’s a rather zen-like task. Stir in buttermilk just till combined.

Now, it just so happens my ice cream scoop is a 1/3 cup measure, but you could use a measuring cup if your ice cream scoop isn’t the same size. Scoop dough into prepared pan. In a 10″ dish, nine (9) scoops will go around the perimeter, with three (3) scoops in the middle. Like this!

Bake until puffed and golden brown. In my oven, that’s exactly 25 minutes, but check at 20 minutes in case it takes less time at your house.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Eat and enjoy!

“What kinda biscuits did you say these are, Mama?”

These biscuits are quite tasty with your favorite preserves. But my favorite, favorite way to enjoy them is as a sausage biscuit sandwich–with or without a slice of Land O’Lakes new 4 Cheese Italian Blend–Italian-American–just like me! HA HA HA!

Cook’s Country says the biscuits can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for two days, but for sure, I’ve stored them that way for longer. And I wouldn’t even say my covered baking dish is entirely airtight. They heat up beautifully with a quick ride around the microwave, too.

We sure do love these biscuits a Casa Katty–hope you do, too!

 

Katty’s Crash Potatoes with Bacon

Smack dab in the middle of the Land of Steady Habits (in Meriden, CT) is a stellar meat market by the name of Noack’s. Besides other smoked meats and German specialty sausages, Noack’s makes the very best wursts.

I picked up some weisswursts and thought I should honor their heritage by making warm German potato salad to go with. Then it hit me: I don’t think you LIKE German potato salad. So, how about those not quite mashed potatoes you make, but with BACON?! That’s it! Achtung, baby, let’s make crash potatoes with the delicious addition of PIG!

KATTY’S CRASH POTATOES WITH BACON

2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, cut in chunks
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup whole milk
2 cloves garlic, pressed
4 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
5 slices bacon (if you are local, please visit Middletown’s Meadow Meat–their slab bacon is OUTSTANDING!)
½ large sweet onion, finely chopped
handful fresh parsley, chopped
¼ cup sour cream
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
¼ tsp. salt

To a large stockpot, add potatoes, chicken stock, milk, garlic, thyme and bay leaf. Bring to boil over medium high heat, then reduce to medium or just below. Cook potatoes for 10 minutes or till you can fork through them. Reserve the cooking liquid from the badadas (yes, potatoes, I know–it runs in the family). You’re going to add some of that liquid back when we put everything together. Remove bay leaf and thyme stems.

While your potatoes are boiling, cook and drain the bacon, but SAVE THOSE DRIPPINGS in the pan! Remove only maybe a teaspoon or so. Chop the bacon, set aside. Chop the parsley and set it aside, too.

Cook the onion in the bacon drippings over medium heat. Once the onion is nice and golden and soft, it should be about time to add them to the potatoes.

It’s showtime! To the cooked potatoes, add the onion, bacon, 1/4 cup reserved stock/milk from cooking the potatoes, sour cream, salt, parsley and coarse ground mustard. Stir. No need to mash. They naturally “crash” into deliciousness without manual intervention. And are a fine accompaniment to the best wursts I know!

I told my Uncle Ralph I was making badadas this weekend. “Badadas! Uncle John used to call them that. But I’m pretty sure they’re potatoes.” Be that as it may, badadas is fun to say.

So, with a proud nod to my own somewhat humorous heritage, here is Uncle John with Poppy way, way back in the day. Yup, that very handsome devil on the right is my grandfather: the original Alfred Anthony. Happy birthday a little early, Poppy! As always, I wish you were here. Love, Hopey ♥

 

Taco Meat–No Packet Required!

Growing up, holidays were all about tradition. Remember dressing up for dinner? It wasn’t till high school I figured out EVERYONE didn’t start a holiday meal with lasagna, then turkey and all the trimmings. You mean you didn’t eat like that? You must not be Italian.

We would all gather in the kitchen until the man in the apron (that’s Uncle Al, next to Nanny) could no longer get things done with everyone underfoot. “Would you get the hell outta my kitchen?!!!”

But sometimes, the holiday gatherings of old just don’t materialize, and you find yourself…inviting your uncle to join you for something completely UNtraditional. Tacos! Yes, we did!

I’ve wanted to talk to you about tacos for some time now, knowing so many really good home cooks only make them with “the packet.” Long ago, my Aunt Pegi taught me how to make ‘em–just meat, tomato sauce and seasonings. It’s that easy! Over time, I’ve added my own twists to her original recipe, but it’s really the same idea. You can add and subtract from it as you like.

TACO MEAT

1 – 1 ½  lbs. ground chicken (AP used ground turkey, feel free to use ground beef if you prefer)
1 teaspoon adobo seasoning
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
beer (or water)–1/2 tomato sauce can–the rest is for the cook!
1 tablespoon chili powder* (mine is Penzey’s medium hot)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon epazote (optional)
1 teaspoon cilantro (optional)
add salt to taste

*Or use Katty’s magic formula: 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon chipotle, 1 teaspoon ancho

Grab a large skillet, add some olive oil and ground chicken (or whatever meat you choose) with a teaspoon of adobo sprinkled over the meat. Break the meat into small pieces with your spatula and cook till there’s no pink. Drain juices.

Lower heat to medium, add can of tomato sauce. What better way to rinse the extra tomato sauce outta the can than with a little beer? A little beer for the tacos, a little beer for the cook. Cheers to that!

Then add all the spices–most of them should be in your spice rack already. The only exceptions are the epazote and cilantro. Nice to add if you have them on hand–no big deal if not.

The tomato sauce and beer will cook down and look like this.

I put together a QUICK GUACAMOLE, too:
one avocado, cubed
handful of grape tomatoes, quartered
a couple of slices of sweet onion, diced
a couple of slices of lemon, squeezed (lime is traditional, lemon is what the kat had in the kitchen!)
a bit of adobo sauce (from chipotles in adobo)–I usually use sriracha–any hot sauce will do

Mix and serve. It’s tasty as a snack before the tacos are ready, or as a topping once they’re out of the oven!

But back to the taco meat…you can stuff taco shells, top them with shredded cheddar and bake them, as we did…

Or you can make nachos…or even taco salad…

Don’t forget–taco meat over cheesy eggs for breakfast the next day is always a treat.

Be sure to have lettuce, tomatoes, salsa and sour cream on hand–whatever toppings you like–for your tacos. Olives, anyone?

While not the feast of childhood days with my family, we had a great meal and a nice time together…right down to when my uncle’s phone rang, playing this Skynyrd song, and it took me waaaay back! Turn it up!

So, speaking of Skynyrd, here we are: Skynyrd and I in front of the garage on 216. Was it 1981, maybe? Older and wiser now, for sure, but still that same girl inside.

 

Bolognese a la Katty

This one’s for ma famiglia. All our collective years in the kitchen at home and on Bridge Street, and I don’t recall any of us ever making Bolognese. Given our love of all that is delicious–and Italian, for that matter–it’s just not right.

Since I couldn’t learn to make this dish from anyone in the fam, I found someone named Marie of Food Nouveau, Anne Burrell and the fine folks at Fine Cooking to guide me. With their help, I made the richest, meatiest sauce EVAH! I just know you’d love it. If only you were here so we could have Sunday dinner in the kitchen as we did when we were kiddos. I think it would taste much better with a bottle of wine than it did with a glass of milk back in the day on 216. CENT’ANNI!

BOLOGNESE A LA KATTY
as taught to Katty’s Kitchen by Marie of Food Nouveau, Anne Burrell and Fine Cooking

1 large sweet onion, finely diced
2 large carrots, finely diced
2 stalks celery finely diced
4 cloves garlic, pressed
Extra virgin olive oil for the pan
Kosher salt
2.5 pounds ground beef/veal/pork combo
1/3 “ thick slice of pancetta, diced (about ¼ pound)
1 cup dry white wine (I used Chardonnay)
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 28-oz can whole San Marzano tomatoes (give them a quick chop in the food processor–you will use both the liquid and the tomatoes)
1 cup beef stock
fresh basil (for serving)
Pecorino Romano (for serving)
1 pound hearty pasta–I picked up something fancy from Public Market, of course!

Let’s check out the ingredients first. I don’t think I ever bought this much meatloaf mix in my life–and yes, for those of you who don’t make meatloaf or meatballs this way, it’s a mixture of ground beef, pork and veal that Middletown’s Public Market will gladly grind for you on request. That’s a generous 2.5 pounds, amici! MEATY!

Now about that fancy pasta. You’ll often see Bolognese served over tagliatelle or pappardelle, but I was drawn to these lovely shapes at Public. I researched a bit and was tickled to see mafaldine is also known as reginette (Italian for little queens). Won’t Queenie be honored to know there’s a pasta shape named for her?

All right, let’s get cookin’! Marie’s recipe calls for a fine dice to make a basic soffritto, but I used Anne’s technique. Chop the carrot, celery and onion, run the garlic through a press, add ½ teaspoon salt and don’t worry about your knife skills ’cause a food processor will do the work for you. I had to process in batches using the mini food processor, but no problem. Puree to form a coarse paste like this. Transfer to a separate bowl because you’ll need the food processor one more time to give the San Marzanos a quick buzz.

Now the pancetta!

Dice like so!

Coat the bottom of a Dutch oven (or large pot) with olive oil, bring to medium-high heat and add the vegetable puree. Cook until all the water has evaporated and the mixture becomes nice and brown. Stir frequently–this step takes about 5-10 minutes.

Next, add the pancetta and cook 10 minutes, until vegetables are softened and pancetta is golden.

Now it’s time to add the ground meat mix. Season with 2 teaspoons Kosher salt and add to the pot in thirds. Turn up the heat to medium high and brown the meat, cooking another 15 to 20 minutes (helpful to set a timer). Stir and stir and stir and stir so it browns, but doesn’t burn. Marie says you want your meat to caramelize and even become crispy in spots. Lower heat to medium toward the end of your 15-minute sautéing time (check after about 8-9 minutes). Anne Burrell says not to rush, so I took about 5 extra minutes for a total of 20 minutes as Anne suggested!

Add white wine and use it to help you scrape the brown pieces at the bottom of the pot. Stir and stir and stir. By the time you’ve gotten everything incorporated (about 2-3 minutes), the wine will have evaporated. Be careful not to let the meat stick again; lower the heat if necessary.

Add milk, cream, diced tomatoes (with liquid), beef stock, 1 teaspoon Kosher salt and some freshly ground pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower heat so it can simmer, half-covered, for about 4 hours. Here’s where my new friend the pot moose was very helpful.

Mr. Moose perches on the edge of the pot to vent the lid.

See?

Everyone should have a pot moose! Mine was handmade just for me. I ♥ him.

Give the pot an occasional stir. I cooked this batch in just under 4 hours total. Toward the end of your cooking time, boil the pasta, reserve some of the water when you drain, and toss pasta with a few pats of butter and some of the pasta water, then the Bolognese. I snipped fresh basil over the top and added Pecorino Romano as well.

BUON APPETITO! Enjoy a Sunday dinner with your family! As always, wishing you were here, Nanny and Poppy. Love and miss you, Hopey

 

Hot Diggity–Michigan Dogs!

What does something from Michigan have to do with the Land of Steady Habits, you ask? In fact, the Michigan dog is not a Michigan specialty at all, but one of Plattsburgh, NY. More on that in a bit.

Back in high school, some of my friends worked at Buster’s Drive-In, a seasonal hot dog stand in Bristol, CT. Beyond great shakes and onion rings, Buster’s is known for their Michigan dog–a hot dog topped with a sauce similar to chili, but thicker–a very dense meat sauce. I had forgotten about it until I reconnected with an old friend who reminded me how much I love ‘em.

Fueled by nostalgia, and coached by faraway friends with connections to Plattsburgh, I was fired up to make my own Michigans! I riffed ever so slightly on a recipe said to be from Clare & Carl’s. It’s super-easy to make and a definite crowd-pleaser…not to mention it’s hot!

MICHIGAN SAUCE
adapted from Clare & Carl’s via Susan W. (Thank you!)

2 8-oz. cans tomato sauce
2 pounds ground chuck
8 teaspoons (2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons) chili powder – I use Penzey’s Medium Hot
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
4 tablespoons Frank’s Red Hot
2 teaspoons onion powder
black pepper
2 teaspoons coarse ground mustard
one tomato can (8 oz.) of water

Brown the ground chuck, breaking up the meat into small pieces as it cooks. Drain fat, then add all the remaining ingredients. It will look soupy at first. Not to worry!

The water will cook down as it simmers on your stovetop. Once it’s nice and thick, it’s ready to serve!

I grabbed some 12-inch Mucke’s from Stop & Shop to put a Connecticut spin on these hot diggity dawgs. Not only do chopped raw onions make Michigans even tastier, but also, if you “bury” them in the bun, under the dog, as well as sprinkle them on top of the sauce, it distributes the flavor nicely and helps keep all the toppings safely held together! Don’t forget to butter and grill your bun! HOO-AHHH! Three cheers for all-American comfort food: the Michigan dog!