Sunday, June 17, 2012

Sabrett Onions


SABRETT ONIONS

When I was a little girl, during the long summer days with no camp to go to and not much to do, my father would take me to his favorite hot dog stand for SABRETT’S.  He would order, “Two with mustard and onions, and one with onions no mustard.”  That one was for me.  I remember sitting on the curb happy to eat my Sabrett hot dog with sautéed onions while my father talked with the food cart guy. 

It’s interesting that my sons now only like Sabrett’s if we have hot dogs at all but they are hard to find.  When I visit New York City, sometimes I just gotta get a Sabrett and look for the blue and yellow umbrella.   My friends say I’m crazy because my Manhattan friends wouldn’t dare eat them.  I have a stomach of steel and can eat anything. 

On this Father’s Day, I woke up thinking of my father and craving a SABRETT Hot Dog with Onions.  I miss my father.  My father was the kind of guy who when he laughed would toss his head back, hold his belly, and laugh out loud alot like Santa Claus.  Sometimes he went into laughing fits where he couldn’t stop and tears would role down his cheeks until he pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket.  Every Father’s Day I would buy him those white handkerchiefs.  When he died and my 5 siblings and I were cleaning out his apartment, it struck me that it smelled of his white undershirts and those handkerchief’s after I ironed them.

Here’s the recipe:

Serves approximately 6-8 hot dogs

4 tablespoons butter (plus 1 more)
4 yellow onions, sliced very thin
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper (more if you like it spicy)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups ketchup

Saute butter with onions on medium heat for 5 minutes.
Add crushed pepper, salt, and ketchup.
Cover sauté pan, lower heat, and sauté for 10-15 minutes until onions are soft.
At very end add 1 more tablespoon of butter.

Serve over SABRETT HOT DOGS