Cafe Rio

This summer the wives made dinner for ALL the guys in the office. It was Cafe Rio style. Here are some of the recipes that were used!

Tomatillo Dressing Cafe Rio

1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch (Buttermilk style)

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup mayonaise

1-2 tomatillos, peel

1/2 to 1 garlic clove, minced

1/3 buch cilantro chopped

1 tsp lime juice

6 slices pickled jalapenos.

Blend ingredients together in blender. More mayonnaise may be added if too thin. Keep refrigerated.

Lime Rice

In a sauce pan, saute:

2 T butter

1 yellow onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic minced

In a large pot, bring the following to a boil: (I just throw all of these ingredients into a rice cooker and it works just great – you don’t need to boil the rice in a pot.)

3 cups rice

6 2/3 cup water

8 tsp bullion (I usually use Swanson’s chicken broth if I have it.)

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

2 tsp cumin

2 small cans diced green chilies

1 T lime juice

1/2 t salt

Green Sauce

4 TBSP butter

1 med onion, diced

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 large can green enchilada sauce (I use Las Palmas brand, which can be found at super Wal-mart)

1 can chicken broth (14-16 0z)

3-4 TBSP flour

In a large sauce pan, melt half of the butter (2TBSP) and sauté garlic and onions until they are almost clear (add garlic more toward the end, so it doesn’t burn). Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, add the chicken broth and flour, mix until lumps are out. Add the remaining butter to the garlic and onions, once melted stir in the chicken broth/flour mixture (make sure to stir continuously while adding so the four doesn’t burn on bottom of pan). Then add the can of green sauce, mix and stir. Cook on med to med-high heat for about 10 mins. Simmer on Medium for about 30 more mins. (If you have time and it makes the flavor stronger b/c it reduces and starts to be more condensed). Stir often while on simmer.

SWEET PORK ( a variation on Café Rio Pork recipe) Kim Sadowski

4 pounds pork roast
1/3 cup water
1/8 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup green chili sauce (La Costena is a good brand)

1 can El Pato tomato sauce (jalapeno variety – green label)

1 6 oz. can of regular tomato sauce

2 T. Canola oil

1 large sweet onion – diced

6 cloves of garlic - pressed
½ to ¾ cups brown sugar

Place the pork, 1/3 cup water, garlic salt, salt, and pepper, in a *crock pot. Cook slowly for 6 hours. Remove pork and cool for 30 minutes. Set aside liquid. Shred pork and set aside.

Strain the liquid from the pork and put in a freezer-safe container. Place in freezer for about an hour to allow oils and fat to separate and rise to the surface. Once oils and fat have risen to the top and solidified, remove and discard. Set aside drippings for use later.

Sauté onion in Canola oil until tender. Stir garlic into onion and sauté lightly for one minute. Add tomato sauce, green sauce, 1 ½ cup of broth and brown sugar. Simmer for 3 minutes until all ingredients are mixed well. Add pork and simmer on low for 20 minutes. Serve pork in warm freshly-made flour or corn tortillas and garnish as desired.

* You can also cook pork in covered roasting pan in oven if you prefer. If you choose to cook it in the oven, cook at 250 degrees for 4 hours.

Basic Pizza Dough

Here ya go Becky & Ang! =)

3 1/2 cups flour
1 cup warm water
2 Tablespoons yeast
2 Tablespoons honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt

Pour warm water into a bowl. The water should be about 85 to 115 o F (make sure not too hot- this is what kills the yeast!) Test it with your hand. It should feel very warm, but comfortable. Add the honey and salt. (Sometimes I use 2 TBS of sugar instead of honey!) Mix by hand (or any other method) until well-blended. Add the yeast and mix some more. Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of flour and the olive oil and mix until well blended. Add the rest of the flour (and any other additions- sometimes I only use 3 cups of flour depending on consistency) and mix well. The dough should turn into a ball. If the dough does not ball up because its too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does. If the mixture is more like a batter, add flour one tablespoon at a time. Adding water or flour as needed to get the right consistency will assure you always get a perfect dough. Just remember to do it in small amounts.

Once the dough is balled up, place the ball on a floured board and knead for about a minute. This builds the gluten which helps the dough to rise and become fluffy when cooked. Place the dough into a plastic grocery bag or a covered bowl and store in a warm, dry area to rise.

After about 45 minutes the dough should have about doubled in size. Show it who's boss and punch it down. That's right, give it a good smack so it deflates. Let it rise for another hour in a half to two hours. The dough is now ready to be rolled out. You can punch the dough down one more time if you want to wait another hour or two before rolling out. The choice is yours!

Special Notes: The dough should make any Extra large pizza - I cook mine at 375 degrees for about 15-17 minutes! Just keep checking on it, every oven has different cooking time! Also, if you want to spice up your dough add oregano, Italian seasonings, and Parmesan cheese makes for YUMMY DOUGH!