cafe rio/bajio

I thought I'd share with everyone the fabulous dinner we had last night and yummy lunch we had today and the glorious dinner we'll have tonight and scrumptious lunch we'll have tomorrow.

Behold!

That's what I'm talkin about. The presentation isn't so great right there but it is so yummy! I thought about taking a picture of it after I ate half of it :\ .. My tortilla looks kinda overcooked too but I like it crispy. In fact, the only thing that could've been better was the tortilla - home made or even pre-made uncooked tortillas would make it better than cafe rio.

So I thought I would share the recipe I use with everyone. There aren't any decent ones on the internet that have all of the recipes together or that make a reasonable amount of servings. This could probably feed 8-10 people. Most I find could feed 30! So here you go. ENjoy.

Ze Meat: Sweet Pork
2 lb. Pork Loin Roast
2 cloves garlic
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 can green or red enchilada sauce
1/2 can Coke or DP or Pepsi

Throw roast in a crock pot with garlic and salt and pepper. Cook on High for 4 hours.
Pull apart with 2 forks or whatever you want.
Add brown sugar, enchilada sauce and cook until its all warm or however long you want.
DONE.

Ze Dressing: Cilantro Lime Ranch
1 packet of Ranch Dressing powder stuff
1 cup sour cream
1 cup mayo :)
2 tomatillos
1/4 bunch cilantro
1 garlic clove
Squirt of Lime Juice (1 table spoon?)
1 Jalepeno

First off, tomatillo's are green tomatoes that come with this weird green leaf around it.
Secondly, all jalepeno's have varying levels of spiciness, so if you're scared definitely seed the thing and you may want to use only half. We use a whole thing and it's pretty spicy. I'd say between medium and hot.
I also like to cut up all the larger vegetables and garlic so the blender has an easier time.

Anyway, all you do is throw all this stuff in a blender until it looks like dressing. Put it in a pretty bottle and throw it in the fridge and you're DONE. It's soo easy.

Ze Rice:
2 1/2 cups Rice
3-5 cups water*
3 chicken broth cubes
1 TBS oil
2 tsp garlic salt

1 can green chiles
1/4 bunch cilantro
1/2 white onion


*I use Whole Grain Basmati rice, which requires 2 1/2 cups of water for every cup of rice. Since the chiles, cilantro, and onion make up about 1 cup of water I add about 4 1/2 cups of water. So. Just check your proportions.

Throw the rice, water, garlic salt, oil, and chicken cubes into a saucepan.
In the same blender you had the dressing in, go ahead and blend the chiles, cilantro, and onion. It adds a nice little creaminess. Add this to the rice as well. Now, cook according to your rice directions. In my case, I had the rice sit in the liquid for at least 15 minutes and then brought it to a boil, reduced to medium and cooked for another 15 minutes. For normal rice you don't have to let it sit and after you bring it to a boil you turn it to low. But yeah. Just read the directions.

Ze Beans:
2 cans rinsed and drained black beans
1 can Diced tomatoes
1 tsp Garlic Salt
1 tsp Cumin
2 Tbs Chopped Cilantro

Throw all of this stuff in a saucepan until warm. DONE.


For the fanciest salad you can sprinkle some of that white cheese, tortilla strips, guac and a few cilantro sprigs. Around here we don't play around with that stuff. We just use pico de gallo. Which consists of roma tomatoes, white onion, cilantro and jalepeno, and then a splash of lime and salt.

Now, put your tortilla in a pie pan, sprinkle some cheese on it and toast it til its all melty. Throw on the rice, then beans, then meat, and finally some romaine lettuce. Throw on some pico de gallo and the dressing and viola. SO GOOD!

I expect each one of you to make it now. Tell me what happens. :) I also have the chicken recipe if anyone wants that.