Operation Cafe Rio

I absolutely love Cafe Rio, more specifically their pork barbacoa salad. Insearch of a way to more often satisfy my cravings for sweet pork I went to the internet in search for an authentic receipe. After much research, I found choose these reciepes as the best variations to try. Off to the grocerie store I went, and home again to begin Operation Cafe Rio.

First order of buisness, the pork.

Sweet Pork

3lbs pork roast (butt of shoulder)

3/4 cup coca cola

1T garlic minced (1 clove)

3/4 c Ketchup (I use El Pato and Ketchup b/c all the other receipes I read called for taco sauce)

1 c brown sugar

juice from 2 limes

1 C tomatilla sauce (this was the only receipe that called for this, and is probably the reason I chose this one)

Place the pok in a crock-pot. Tope with garlic and coca cola. Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or until you can shred it with a fork. Shred pork. Mix in the remaining ingredients for the sauce. Cover and simmer on low until ready to serve.

The pork turned out great. Other receipes say to cook it in water and then add the coca cola later, which would be interesting to try in the future.

Next the rice. I've decided that I like lime rice sooo much more than spanish rice. This rice was easy and turned out great!

Lime Rice

in a saucepan, saute:

2T butter

1 yellow onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

In a large pot, bring to a boil the following:

6 2/3 cups water

8tsp chicken buillion

1/2 bunch cilantro choppped

2tsp cumin

2 sm cans diced green chilies

1 T lime juice

1/2 tsp pepper

3 C rice (maybe a half a cup more, you have to play)

And of course you can't forget the tomatillo dressing

Tomatillo Dressing

2 Jalapenos

3 garlic cloves

2 tomatillos

1 handful cilantro

2 limes

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups mayonnaise

2 pkgs Hidden Valley Ranch salad and dressing mix

Blend all ingredients except mayonnaise in blender until smooth. Whisk in the mayo and chill until ready to serve. Yummy yummy!

I was so pleased after taking my first bite that we had to bust out the camera! It really tasted like the real thing. If you to have a love affair with Cafe Rio, like I do, you've got to try this!