We recently went to a barbeque and had a delicious tri-tip roast off the grill. I asked my friend for the recipe and was told it was “Santa Maria”. Almost everyone else seemed familiar with this but it was new to me. I got my friend's recipe and also looked on the web and sure enough, tons of recipes. I guess Santa Maria California is known for tri-tip, go figure!
I tripled my friend’s recipe and used Italian seasoning where hers called for dried parsley. I also used smoked paprika instead of plain because I love the smoky taste. The result was quite good although for some reason, much more peppery than hers. Everyone I served it to at a sunset picnic liked it but next time I’ll dial the pepper back just a tad. Although, the next day I made a gyro with some of the leftovers and cucumber raita sauce. The cool cucumber sauce toned down the pepper perfectly!
If you aren't grilling this time of year where you are, I would give this a try in the oven or even maybe the crockpot. The texture would be different in the crockpot, and you'd might need a bit of moisture for cooking but the flavors are worth the try-let me know how it turns out.
