Santa Maria Recipes

Santa Maria Barbecue

The Santa Maria Barbecue is a traditional, cowboy barbecue from Central California. This meal makes a great budget entertainment meal for summer. The focus of the meal is on the tri tip roast which has a great smokey, garlic flavor. The garlic comes from the marinade and spice rub. The smoke comes from the grill.

City Catering likes to serve this with Guacamole. To round out your meal, serve the roast with pinto beans, grilled bread, salsa, a fresh green salad, and the guacomole. Below, you will find recipes for the tri tip roast, guacamole, and pinto beans. All the recipes are designed for entertaining 12 people -- you can easily halve the recipes for smaller gatherings.

Tri Tip Roast

Ingredients

  • 3 tri tip roasts (about 6 pounds)
  • 24 cloves of garlic (1½ - 2 heads)
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • ¾ teaspoon sugar
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1½ tablespoon pepper
  • 1 tablespoon garlic salt
  • 2 cups wood chips (preferably red oak)

Preparation

Make marinade: Place garlic, olive oil, sugar and salt in a food processor and process until garlic is minced. Will be a loose paste.

Trim meat (if needed). Coat with marinade and refrigerate for 1-24 hours.

30 minutes prior to cooking: soak chips in water. Remove meat from refrigerator. Wipe the marinade off the meat and coat evenly with pepper and garlic salt

15 minutes prior to cooking: drain chips, place in a tin foil packet with a couple of smoke holes. Place packet over primary burner and light grill turning all burners to high.

When chips smoke heavily, place meat on the grill. Sear 5 minutes per side with grill covered. Turn off all burners except the primary burner and cook indirectly until meat registers 130 - 135°F. This will give you a medium rare to medium roast

Remove roasts from grill and let rest for 15 minutes. Slice thinly across the grain and serve.

Serves 12

Pinto Beans

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds pinto beans
  • ½ cup sliced jalapeño peppers
  • ½ cup jalapeño juice
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
  • 1½ teaspoons cumin
  • 2 tablespoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
  • 2 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

Preparation:

Clean and rinse beans. Cover in water and soak overnight or bring to a boil and soak for 2 hours.

Add chopped onion, garlic, jalapenos, jalapeno juice, salt, pepper and cumin. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Cook for 2 hours, replenishing liquid with stock to keep beans covered. Cook until beans are tender. Stir in cilantro before serving and salt to taste.

Serves 12 (atleast!)

Guacamole

Ingredients

  • 6 avocados
  • ½ serrano pepper, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons onion, finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon cilantro, minced
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons tomato, finely chopped
  • salt

Preparation:

Using a mortar and pestle, mash the serrano pepper, onion, cilantro, and lime juice.

Just prior to service, roughly chop the avocados into a mixing bowl. Add the lime juice mixture, tomatoes, and about ½ teaspoon of salt. Mix. Adjust salt and lime juice to taste and serve.