Thursday, April 19, 2007

Cafe Rio Recipes

Cafe Rio Recipes
(not for sure that these came from Cafe Rio, but we made them last night and they sure taste awesome!)

Pork
3-5 lb Pork Loin or Pork Roast
1 ½ cans Coke (I used Sprite)
1 c. sugar
7oz can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce –provides alot of heat (or plain adobo sauce for sweeter sauce)
1 tsp dry ground mustard (heaping)
1 tsp cumin (heaping)
1 tsp minced garlic

Place the contents of the can of chilies in a bowl and cover with soda to get as much of the adobo sauce off the chilies. Remove the chilies and throw them away, or if you want the meat to be hotter, leave one or two chilies in. I left two small chilies in and the meat was perfect for us, but we like stuff HOT!. Add all ingredients except pork in a blender. Rinse can of adobo sauce with soda to get all the sauce out. Blend in blender until well mixed. Place pork in crock pot and pour sauce over it. Cook for 4-6 on high or 7-9 hours on low. Carefully turn roast over halfway through. Cook in sauce until it pulls apart and then shred. Take pork out and shred. Then add sauce to your liking. I think I only added about half of the sauce because I didn't want it too runny. Serve over rice, on a salad, or in a tortilla!

Rice
1 c. rice
2 c. water
3 cubes chicken bouillon
½ tsp dried onion
1 tbsp oil
1 fresh lime
1/4 bunch cilantro
Cook rice with all ingredients (except lime and cilantro) in pot or rice cooker. Squeeze fresh lime juice over rice and mix in cilantro before serving.

Creamy Cilantro Dressing (for a salad version)
1 envelope buttermilk ranch dressing
1 c. mayo
1 c. milk
½ bunch cilantro
2 tomatillos
½ serrano peppers with seeds removed (adds heat)

Blend in blender, let sit to thicken. Dressing continues to get hotter when it is stored in the fridge.

Make a salad by starting with a tortilla (we like the kind you cook yourself, found at walmart and costco in the fridge section). Put shredded romaine on the tortilla and top with rice, beans, meat, chopped tomatoes, and dressing. Yum!

3 comments:

Jaime S. said...

mmmm. sounds good

Tonia Conger said...

I JUST promised my brother and his wife (and their new baby) that I would make them homemade cafe rio salads for dinner tomorrow. Fate brought us together. Thank you for the recipes!

Megan said...

You are welcome. I hope you like it. It isn't the easiest or fastest recipe around, but it's worth it. The meat is incredible and the rice is awesome. Of course, the dressing makes the salad!