For those of you who aren't from or have never lived in or visited utah, you might have never experienced their sweet pork salad and burritos. they are pretty much my favorite food. though i don't allow myself to eat them often...they are probably a few thousand calories. atleast. so the other night i was craving them and not willing to pay the $8 just for myself and i knew my husband would like one and my kids too and well, there goes the school clothes budget. so thanks to google, i was able to get a close second in a recipe found here. i tried not to compare it to cafe rio, tried to think, 'if i'd never had cafe rio, would this be good?' and i'd say it was pretty awesome. the meat lacked depth. it was sweet enough. spicy enough and all the flavors were there but it left me with an empty feeling in my mouth. maybe it was because the sauce was very thin but still, i would have been proud of the dinner had we had company. I also felt very gourmet using ingredients i have never heard of before let alone used in my kitchen.
Pork:
3-5 lb. pork butt roast (asked the meat guy at my grocery store and he said pork loins can end up dry in a crock pot and my butt (he he) turned out juicy. LOLOLO.
1 1/2 cans coca-cola classic (diet is too sweet)
1 c. brown sugar
7 oz. can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (found in hispanic aisle)
1 tsp. dry ground mustard
1 heaping tsp. cumin
1 tsp. minced garlic
Place the contents of the can of chilies in a bowl and cover with soda and 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 one in and it was perfectly mild with a hint of spice. 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 7-9 hours at low in a crockpot, turning once half way through. take pork out and shred it and then add back to sauce. serve over rice (recipe below), salad or burrito.
Rice
1 C rice
2 C water
3 cubes chicken bouillon (i didn't have any and it still was soooooooo good)
1 fresh lime
1/4 bunch cilantro
cook rice with all ingredients except lime and cilantro. squeeze fresh juice of half the lime over rice and mix in finely chopped cilantro before serving. (with your leftovers, cut up a fresh mango and put it in the rice - amazing)
If you are going to use it as a salad:
Creamy Cilantro Dressing
1 envelope buttermilk ranch dressing
1 C mayo
1 C milk
1/2 bunch cilantro
2 tomatillos (found in vegetable dept. looks like a tiny green tomato with a thin veiny skin)
1/2 serrano pepper with seeds removed (found by the jalapeno peppers - long and thin and dark green)
Blend all in blender, put in fridge to thicken. dressing continues to get hotter when it's stored in the fridge but it's not too hot unless you left the seeds in the serrano pepper. :)
Make a salad by starting with a tortilla (the only way to go is the kind you cook yourself found in the refrigerator section of walmart or costco. amazing. so place the tortilla in a big bowl, put down the rice, black beans, mexican crumbled cheese (anyone know the name of this stuff?), meat and then romaine lettuce topped with creamy cilantro dressing.
if you know a recipe better than this, PLEASE let me know. i am dying to find a meat recipe that matches better though this one is very good.
