Deano’s answer to: “What is a great meal, ideally Asian, to make for my ex-girlfriend to show her what a fool she is for dumping me?”

Banh Mi Hot Dogs, by Deano (4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 4 premium quality hot dogs or other "neutrally spiced" sausage
• sweet French-style baguettes (total length equivalent to length of hot dogs)
• mayonnaise (Kewpie FTW)
• medium cucumber (sliced lengthwise into thick sticks)
• thin sliced jalapeño pepper (optional, if you like to bring the heat)
• 8-12 fresh cilantro sprigs
• pickled carrot & daikon (secondary recipe you can prepare a day or two in advance, really easy/good master recipe here: http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/… )

Preparation:

Cut baguettes to the length of your selected sausages, then cut about 3/4ths of the way through the "buns" to create an opening for the filling. Spread mayonnaise on both sides (don't be stingy, just sensible) of the baguette interiors, then close the buns and set aside.

Prepare sausages as you normally would – for this recipe, I use footlong premium hot dogs, boiled.

Around 5-7 minutes before serving, place baguettes into a preheated oven set to ~275ºF (the warm slightly crusty buns really make this dish).

Remove buns from oven, fill with meat and toppings to taste, and enjoy!

My typical layering scheme is:

• meat
• cucumber
• jalapeño
• cilantro sprigs
• daikon and carrot pickle

This generally ensures that the pickle (usually the coolest/wettest ingredient) stays pretty far from the meat, which should stay hot longer tucked cozily at the bottom of your baguette-bun.

Note: while the cilantro sprigs will likely still be visible, this can hide the presence of the jalapeño, so you may wish to throw an extra slice or two on top as a warning. 😉

This recipe looks and tastes very impressive, without very much work on your part. If you have a hot plate and a toaster oven, you can make this.

Still, I'd highly recommend you take one last bit of advice here, and suggest you change your plans:

Instead of showing off your cooking skills to your ex, why not show them off to a brand NEW date, and then post the delicious pictures on your blog/facebook/twitter/instagram/etc for your ex to randomly see? Seems like that would be the REAL way to get her goat, while expending your efforts in the kitchen with someone who may actually appreciate the gesture as much as the results.

What is a great meal, ideally Asian, to make for my ex-girlfriend to show her what a fool she is for dumping me?