Sunday Cookout: Tucson Veggie Dogs With Grilled Green Beans and Corn.

Now THIS is how summertime cookouts should be!

We haven’t had a Sunday cookout in awhile, due primarily to my absence the last two weekends and then Mother Nature’s Rainstorm That Wasn’t the weekend before that.  Since it’s been awhile, naturally I attacked the grill menu with renewed fervor – absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that!  I was in the mood for veggie dogs tonight, but not just the regular fare; no, I was looking for something a bit more exciting, a bit more memorable.

I remembered a few recipes I saw over at Tablespoon.com a year or so ago that I felt sure would fit the bill, and sure enough, one of them really piqued my interest heading into the weekend.  Tucson dogs – teeming with chili beans, tomatoes, cheese, veggie bacon – would hit the spot indeed!

As for side items, our friends over at Great Country Farms took care of that with ease.   I cooked some of this week’s green beans in a foil packet with a dollop of butter and a hearty helping of chipotle seasoning – just half an hour or so on the grill was all it took!  Also in this week’s farm box were several ears of corn – the first corn of the summer for us! – so I laid each ear on a sheet of aluminum foil, nestled a pat of butter in alongside the kernels, sprinkled some garlic powder across the top, and wrapped each packet up tightly.  I grilled the corn for about 20-25 minutes, and the kernels were juicy and soft by the time dinner was ready.

For the Tucson dogs themselves, I used Lightlife’s Tofu Pups, cooked them until they had pretty grillmarks, and then dressed them up in all their finery!  We used regular hot-dog buns (the recipe above calls for a fancy French bread, but we like good old potato rolls), added a dab (or three) of Vegenaise to the bread, laid the dog in the bun, and dressed it with chili beans, Roma tomato slices, Manchego cheese crumbles, and veggie bacon crumbles – from slices we grilled to give them a nice char.  These veggie dogs were beasts, people.  They were souped-up versions of your garden-variety dogs, the Ferrari as compared to an El Camino (not that there’s anything wrong with an El Camino!).

To add to our enthusiasm, everything tasted just great!  The Tucson dogs were teeming with complementary flavors, from the spice of the chili beans to the smooth mellowness of the cheese; the green beans were crispy but well-cooked, and the chipotle powder gave them a fun little spicy kick; and the corn was very likely the sweetest we’ll enjoy all summer, juice dribbling from each kernel with every bite.  Put it all together, and this dinner was just how a Sunday cookout should be!  I’m looking forward to next weekend already.

:)