Description
These smoky beans with a slight kick are the perfect compliment to that Santa Maria Tri-tip you are going to cook up this weekend.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup dry pinquito beans, soaked overnight and drained (see note)
- 1/4 cup medium dice ham (see note)
- 2 slices bacon, diced
- 1/2 medium white onion, finely chopped
- 1 roasted poblano pepper, stem & seeds removed and diced (see note)
- 1/2 cup tomato puree (see note)
- 2 Tablespoons ketchup
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon pimentón (aka smoked paprika)
- 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1.5 teaspoons dark brown sugar
- Hot sauce to taste
- kosher salt & pepper
Instructions
- Place the beans in a medium saucepan and cover with 2 inches of lightly salted water. Bring beans to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to a bare simmer and cook until the beans are tender and creamy inside. Stir occasionally for even cooking. About 45 mins to 1 hour.
- While the beans are cooking you can prep the other ingredients.
- Place the bacon and ham in a large skillet or cast iron pan and cook over medium-low heat until bacon is rendered and crisp.
- Add the onions to the pan and saute over medium heat until softened but not browned.
- Add spices, sugar, and poblano pepper, stirring to incorporate well. Let the spices toast for about 30 seconds, turning down the heat if necessary so they don’t burn.
- Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add the tomato puree, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and stir to combine, scraping up any browned bits in the bottom of the pan.
- Drain the cooked beans, reserving the liquid.
- Add the beans to the pan along with about 1 cup of the bean cooking liquid and a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce. Bring to a simmer and cook until all the flavors have combined and the raw tomato taste has mellowed. About 10 minutes.
- Adjust flavor to taste with kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, and hot sauce.
Notes
- Soak dry beans overnight, or for at least 8 hours, covered with at least 2 inches of well salted water.
- Medium dice is 1/2 inch cubes.
- Roasting peppers is easier than it may sound and it imparts an incredible smoky complexity to the pepper. Simply char them on the outside until completely black, put in a contain or bowl and cover with plastic wrap for 20 minutes to steam. The skin of the pepper can then be easily scraped off with a paper towel.
- I like to puree my own whole canned tomatoes rather than buying already pureed tomatoes. This is easy to do with a blender, stick-blender, or food mill. If you’d like a chunkier texture, a food processor is fine too.
Keywords: pinquito, beans, bbq beans