Hot Dog Soup

Slice the hot dogs into 1 cm slices and the celery to ½ cm slices. Dice the rutabaga into ½ cm cubes, carrots to 1 cm cubes and the potatoes to 1½ cm cubes. Mince the onion and parsley.

Heat a pot (preferably non-stick, any will do) and brown the hot dogs until they get some color. Remove to a plate to wait. (Use some butter or oil for browning if you’re not using a not-stick pot.)

Sautee the onion first on its own until soft, then add celery, rutabaga and carrots, and sautee for a minute or two. Add the bay leaf, chili oil and enough stock to barely cover the vegetables.

Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes on medium heat before adding the potatoes. Cook for another 15 minutes.

Turn off the heat, add the browned hot dogs, and let the pot sit on the hot stove for 5 minutes before adding the parsley.

Plate and serve with rye bread and cheese, or a grilled cheese sandwich.

You could easily substitute any of the root vegetables. I often use parsnips and celeriac instead of rutabaga, leek for onions, and you could even change the potato to pre-cooked pasta. You can also use sausage, pre-cooked meat, or omit any meat and go all vegetarian.

I didn’t forget salt as I don’t use salt in my cooking, but feel free to add some to your taste. I like the sweetness of the root vegetables and I find that salt sometimes “spoils” that sweetness. The amount of chili oil doesn’t bring heat to the dish, but if heat is what you want, add some more.