I offer you this approach to BBQ sauce based on a family recipe from a dear friend who hails from Kansas City. Give it a try the next time you fire up the grill. Once you make BBQ sauce at home you’ll realize how easy it is and you’ll never go back to that bottle of Bull’s Eye again.

Classic BBQ Sauce

2 garlic cloves
1 inch piece of ginger
3 T unsalted butter
1 ¼ c Heinz ketchup
¼ c water
3 T Worcestershire sauce
3 T honey
3 T fresh lemon juice
hot sauce

Peel ginger and grate using a micro-plane. Peel garlic and then mince it or pass it through a garlic press.

Place heavy bottom sauce pan over medium heat. Add butter to pot and swirl until melted. Add ginger and garlic to the melted butter. Cook on medium heat until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Do not let garlic and ginger brown.

Add ketchup and water to pot and stir until combined. Next add Worcestershire sauce, honey, lemon juice and hot sauce (to taste). Stir to combine, reduce heat to medium low, cover and let simmer for at least 30 minutes. Keep stirring every 5-7 minutes to prevent scorching.

Taste sauce after simmering has finished and adjust seasoning with additional lemon juice or hot sauce as you like. Sauce is best when made the night before use, allowing flavors to meld. It can be kept in a glass container in the fridge for up to 7 days.

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I was out of town last week and happily had many delicious restaurant meals. The downside, though, was that by the end of the week I was feeling a tad gross from all of the rich food. While I did try to exhibit some restraint when ordering, it was really difficult to say no to a chocolate pithivier. So I didn’t. This scenario (un)fortunately repeated itself several times throughout the week, bringing me back to my original point: too much rich food.

So, like Dan, I embarked on my own week of healthy cooking. I haven’t gone so far as to have a vegetarian week because the meat lover who is my husband would have been cranky beyond belief. But the key word for the week has been “lite.”

Crab cakes with mango salsa has been my fallback “lite” recipe for years. For some reason, I can’t eat a naked crab cake. Tartar sauce or aioli is usually my dressing of choice, but mango salsa provides a light, bright, complementary flavor without the guilt of delicious, creamy tartar sauce. Paired with a side salad, it makes an easy weeknight meal.

I generally buy my crab cakes at Whole Foods but if you’d rather make your own, the recipe for their crab cakes can be found here.

Crab Cakes with Mango Salsa
– serves 2 -

1 ripe mango, peeled, seeded, and diced
1 jalapeno, diced (seeds and membranes removed if you don’t want any heat)
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar, to taste
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
pinch or two of salt

2 crab cakes, for serving
1-2 Tbs canola or other neutral oil, enough to film the bottom of your pan

1. Combine all of the salsa ingredients in a non-reactive bowl and adjust the seasoning, to taste. The salsa can be made up to 1 day in advance and refrigerated in a non-reactive, airtight container.

2. After assembling the salsa, heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the crab cakes and pan fry until both sides are golden brown and the crab cakes are heated through, flipping once.

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3. Miso Tomato Salsa

It turns out that the Japan External Trade Organization was holding a miso event to make folks aware of how versatile miso is. Did you know that there is a Japan Miso Promotion Board? Oh, but there is. They even produce a pamphlet that provides some helpful information on the types of miso available (more than just red and white!), health benefits, and recipes (pasta with miso meat sauce, anyone?).

Back to the farmers’ market.  Besides the packets of miso, the tent provided tastes of food items that featured, you guessed it, miso.  There was miso dressing.  Lovely, but expected.  Miso something else.  Very memorable.  And, most intriguingly to me, miso salsa.  It was sweetly tomato-ey, with a hint of miso umaminess and a jolt of sesame oil.

With early girl tomatoes nearing the end of the season, I whipped up a batch with my free miso as a last hurrah to summer.  The recipe that they provided looked a little sketchy to me, so I improvised using my own basic salsa recipe and making substitutions that I thought made sense, e.g. rice vinegar for lime juice.  I’m still on the fence about the addition of the sesame oil, but you can give it a try and see what you think.

Miso Tomato Salsa
- makes 2 cups -

1 lb. tomatoes, diced
1/2 onion, diced (approx. 1/2 cup)
1 large jalapeno, chopped
1 large handful cilantro leaves, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced or grated
1 Tbs.+1 tsp. red miso paste
1 Tbs. seasoned rice vinegar
1/4 tsp. sesame oil (optional)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and adjust to taste.  Refrigerate for 1 hour or more to allow flavors to blend.

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