My taste-buds are screaming for joy as Zach and I attempted to make a version of Cafe Rio pork, rice and the creaming green dressing. Living 2,000 miles away from home just got a little easier. Thanks to Maren for posting the pork recipe. Now I just need some recipes from Jamba Juice and I will be set.
4 comments:
and it was *del-i-cious*!
Hey Emily, I found a recipe on someone's blog in Utah for the pork,beans,rice, and dressing looks good. I have tried another pulled pork recipe and it was really sweet this new recipe looks a lot better than the one I tried previously.
Sweet pork
2 pounds pork
3 cans coke (not diet)
1/4 c. brown sugar
Dash garlic salt
1/4 c. water
1 can sliced green chilies
3/4 can enchilada sauce (I used Old El Paso brand, medium spiciness)
1 c. brown sugar
Put the pork in a heavy duty Ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 c. of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight.
Drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can of coke, water, and garlic salt in a crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily, but don’t let it get TOO dry). Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork.
In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can coke, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar (about a cup, you can add a little more or a little less to taste.) If it looks too thick, add more coke little by little.
Put shredded pork and sauce in crockpot and cook on low for 2 hours. That’s it.
Cilantro Lime-Rice
1 cup uncooked rice
1 tsp. butter or margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 can (15 oz.) chicken broth
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro
In a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 tsp. lime, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender. Remove from heat. In a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro. Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice.
Black Beans
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1&1/3 cup tomato juice
1&1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro
In a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving stir in the cilantro. (**NOTE** we added a can of corn, drained, to the beans with a dash of cumin and chili powder, it was awesome! We recommend doing this even though it is not the traditional Cafe Rio style.)
Cilantro Ranch Dressing
1 packet TRADITIONAL Hidden Valley Ranch mix (not buttermilk)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup buttermilk
2 tomatillos, remove husk, diced
1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeno (we like it SPICY so we kept the seed in it, if you like it mild, just remove the seeds)
Mix all ingredients together in the blender. That’s it.
How to put it all together….
First of all, we bought the aluminum deep-dish pans (had them at the grocery store, they look like the Café Rio tins
Lay a tortilla in the bottom of the pan, sprinkle cheese on it, and put it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 5 min. or until cheese it melted.
Remove from oven, add beans, rice, pork, then lettuce (we used the leafy green lettuce, NOT iceburg) and a little scoop of tomatoes and onions (pico de gallo). We made up some guacamole and put some of that on the salad (highly recommended). We also added a little spoonful of sour cream. Add some crushed tortilla chips (we haven’t found the tortilla strips). A shake of parmesan cheese, and top with a few cilantro leaves.
Serve with the cilantro ranch dressing and there you have it.
Enjoy!!! I have also been told that if you buy uncooked tortillas and cook them for the tortilla in the salad it is so much better than the already cooked ones. I buy our uncooked tortillas at Costco. Yummy!
Lex Bassi :)
Sounds yummy. Also, letting you know that you've been tagged. Check out my blog for details.
Aimee
I'm definitely going to try this! Thanks Em. Here's another version that I got from Mary that's also really tasty!
http://recipetreasures.blogspot.com/2007/07/sweet-pork-salad.html
Post a Comment