Monday, August 31, 2009

Homemade BBQ Sauce and Succotash


For dinner tonight, I decided to make succotash to clear out the vegetable drawer. JJ requested BBQ succotash, and I aim to please. Usually we have some BBQ sauce on hand, but since we moved, I'd been slow to restock our condiments. I decided to just whip up my own BBQ sauce. It was really easy to prepare, and came out great. I love making my own sauce because I can easily control the spice level, the sweetness, the vinegar, and other aspects. I took a tiny bit of help on getting the smokey flavor by using Chicago Grill seasoning from Penzeys, but it's just fine without it.


Homemade Sweet and Tangy BBQ Sauce

1/2 red onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
6 oz. can of tomato paste
1/4 cup brown sugar
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tbsp. Penzey's Chicago Steak Seasoning (or McCormack Grill seasoning)
Splash of water

Heat a small saucepot over medium heat.
Add onions and garlic, season with salt and pepper, saute' for 5 minutes.
Deglaze the pot with the vinegar, scrape up the bits.
Add tomato paste, brown sugar, cayenne and seasoning. Stir well.
Add to a blender and puree, add water 1 tbsp. at a time to reach desired consistency.
Taste and season, pour in a jar or bottle and keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

The succotash was a mixture of red, green and yellow peppers, zucchini, summer squash, and red onion. You can also add some corn, okra, and beans.

2 comments:

What's Cookin Chicago said...

I love when dishes are colorful! This looks wonderful and that homemade BBQ sauce must punch in some great flavors too!

Joanne said...

I love homemade barbecue sauce! That bottled stuff with all of that high fructose corn syrup gets two thumbs down for me. But this stuff looks delicious!