Cafe' Rio Recipes

Sorry this is so messy, I'm too lazy to make it look nice.


Cafe Rio Sweet Pork
6 to 7 lbs. pork [can be roast, tenderloin, etc.]

Sauce:3 [8 ounce] cans tomato sauce2 [8ounce] cans El Pato (yellow)2 cups brown sugar1cup waterMix sauce ingredients and pour over pork in crock pot. Cook on low for one night and half a day. [late Saturday night until after church on Sunday - it works!] One hour before serving, shred meat and put back in sauce, in crock pot. Can keep on warm for several hours.

Café Rio Ranch Dressing
Place the following in a blender:3 fresh tomatillos, cut into quarters (I used canned)Juice of ½ lime½ C buttermilk½ C mayonnaise½ C sour cream1 package Ranch Buttermilk Dressing Mix1 C fresh cilantro5 stalks (1/2 bunch) of green onions w/ends2 cloves crushed garlic½ to ¾ tsp salt¼ tsp crushed cayenne pepper4 tsp sugar or other sweetenerCombine well in blender and refrigerate one hour.Lime Rice2 cups long cook rice2 cans [approx. four cups] chicken broth1 cupe butter [the real thing]approx. 1 cup chopped celery1 onion chopped1 bunch cilantro choppedzest and juice of 2 limes

Stove Top:Saute the celery and onion in the cube of butter [med/high]. Add the rice and stir until all the rice is coated with butter. Add the broth, lime zest and juice, and cilantro. Bring to boil, then turn down to simmer and cook for twenty minutes, or until rice is done.

Rice Cooker:Flip rice cooker on "cook" and saute vegies - follow same directions as above. Once you've added everything, make sure rice cooker is set on "cook" to begin the cooking cycle, it will flip to "warm" when it is done.

Sweet Tomatillo Salsa
(like Rosa's in AZ)
2 28oz can Tomatillos - drained [they did drain them]1 7oz can Embassa sliced Jalapeno's in escabeche [this was the sliced jalapeno with some carrots, but I just drained it and put everything in and it worked like a charm]3-4 packets of equal1 bunch of cilantroBlend everything - I did add the entire can of jalapeno, and it did have a kick to it - I don't thing they make it that spicy in the restaurant - so maybe not all the can, but I have at times got spicier batches, so that you can control. Also, add the packets of Equal one at a time, tasting each time because you want to balance that with the jalapeno - the perfect sweet/spicy balance - Yum!!!We also had a big pot of pinto beans, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, pico de gallo, cilantro, guacamole, & chips. We found some foil circular take-out pans and put a large flour tortilla in each. They could then build their salads in that, or wrap up the tortilla for a burrito.