Café Rio Pork Barbacoa

Café Rio Pork Barbacoa

5-6 pound pork roast 7 oz. can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce

21 oz Dr. Pepper (do not use diet soda) 6-ish oz. red taco sauce

1 cup brown sugar 1 tsp dry mustard

¾ cup white sugar 1 tsp cumin

1 clove garlic, minced ¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Place roast in Crock Pot, cover half-way with water and cook on low for 12 hours. (I started mine at midnight and everything worked out perfectly for Sunday dinner at 6 pm.) After 12 hours, drain pork (retain liquid if you want sauce for burritos, simply mix with a can of verde enchilada sauce and away you go.)

Mix remaining ingredients until sugar dissolves. I didn’t keep the actual chilies, I dumped the can into a bowl and added enough Dr. Pepper to get all the sauce off of the chilies, then I tossed them. I also rinsed out the can with Dr. Pepper for more adobo goodness. My version had a fairly good kick to it, but if you LOVE hotness, then blend everything plus 2 or 3 chilies in the blender. (Also, the adobo sauce tends to stain plastic, using a glass or metal mixing bowl will make your clean-up of adobo sauce considerably less frustrating).

Add Dr. Pepper mixture to the roast and cook on low an additional 4 hours. Take out roast and shred, add back into sauce and cook for 2 more hours. At this point the meat was so tender it practically shredded itself.

Café Rio Tomatillo Dressing

1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix 3 cloves garlic

3 tomatillos (remove papery skin), rough chop 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1 cup mayo 2 tsp green Tabasco sauce

1 cup buttermilk juice from 1 lime

1 cup (or more) cilantro, rough chop

Blend all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Let sit to thicken.

Cilantro-Lime Rice

1 cup uncooked rice 1 ¼ cup water

1 teaspoon butter or margarine 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

2 cloves garlic, minced 2 teaspoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon lime zest 3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

1 can (15 oz) chicken broth

In a saucepan, combine rice, butter, garlic, lime peel, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil

Cover and cook 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.

Black Beans

1 can black beans, rinsed and drain 2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/3 cup tomato juice 1 ½ teaspoon salt

2 cloves garlic, minced 2 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro

1 teaspoon ground cumin

In a non-stick 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.

Crispy Corn Chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Slice corn tortillas into thin strips. Bake for about 8 minutes.

For the tortilla, we like the tortillas from Costco that you bake yourselves. If using these bake as directed and add cheddar cheese to the top until lightly browned. If using regular tortillas, you can put the tortilla in a pie pan in the oven with cheese sprinkled on top until warm.

The meat, rice, dressing and beans can all be made the night before or over a several day perios and will last in the fridge so it’s not so much work all at once.