Santa Recipe ⋮ Chef John's Santa Maria-Style Beans

Classic Santa Maria-style beans are made with a special variety of pink beans called pinquitos. These 'little pink' beans are prepared in a spicy, smoky, tomato/chili sauce that's spiked with not one, but two kinds of pork. Santa Maria beans have come into my life relatively late, so I plan on making up for lost time this barbecue season.

Ingredients

• 1 pound dry pink beans (such as pinquito)
• cold water to cover
• 2 slices peppered bacon, diced
• ½ cup diced smoked ham
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• ½ cup water
• ¼ cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon chipotle chile powder
• 1 pinch dried oregano

Cooking Directions

1. Place pink beans into a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let stand 8 hours to overnight. Drain.
2. Place drained beans in a stockpot with enough cold water to cover. Bring to a simmer and cook until almost completely tender, about 1 hour 45 minutes.
3. While beans are simmering, cook and stir bacon in a large saucepan over medium heat until cooked through but not crispy, 5 to 7 minutes. Add ham; cook and stir until ham is heated through, about 1 minute. Stir garlic into ham mixture and cook until garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute more. Add tomatoes, 1/2 cup water, ketchup, sugar, dry mustard, paprika, chili powder, salt, chipotle chile powder, and oregano. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, and cook until flavors blend, about 30 minutes.
4. Drain beans, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Combine beans, reserved liquid, and tomato mixture in the beans stockpot; bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until beans are tender and mixture has thickened, about 30 minutes.

Nutrition Facts

• calories343.6
• carbohydrateContent56.4 g
• cholesterolContent9.9 mg
• fatContent4.7 g
• fiberContent10.6 g
• proteinContent20.2 g
• saturatedFatContent1.4 g
• sodiumContent838.8 mg
• sugarContent7.7 g