A Salad to Die For

Sometimes I get a craving for this evil little salad from a place around the corner from my house. It has amazing Cilantro lime sauce and GREAT Pico De Gallo. Here, give it a go.

Start with preparing the meat:

Mexican Sweet Pork

Serves: 12


Difficulty: Easy

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 6-8 hours

Ingredients:

* 4 lb pork shoulder roast (the more fatty the roast, the better)
* 1 Cup of Pace Picante sauce. (Medium heat is best, but the mild version will work)
* 2 Cups brown sugar
* Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Remove pork roast from packaging, and wash. (Avoid cutting the roast to expedite cooking time)
2. In a separate bowl, mix picante sauce and brown sugar and wisk until sugar is mostly dissolved.
3. In a crock pot or slow cooker, place the roast in the cooker and cover the roast with the mixture of picante sauce and sugar.
4. Place on medium heat, cover and simmer. Check it every hour or so to rotate roast in the juices. The roast will eventually produce enough juices to make the right consistency, so do not add water.
5. Once the roast is fully cooked, it will begin to fall apart. Use a fork to separate the meat into smaller segments. Cover and continue cooking.
6. After 8 hours, continue to shred the meat until no chunks remain.
7. If it appears to be too juicy, turn slow cooker down to its lowest setting, remove the cover and let it reduce as needed.


Then on to the Salad:

Sweet Pork Salad


Serves: 6

Difficulty: Medium

Prep time: 30 minutes (excluding Sweet Pork)

* 1 head of Romano lettuce, cut into bite-sized pieces.
* 1 can Bush’s ® Black or Pinto beans
* 3 Cups of Sweet Pork (see recipe here)
* Cilantro Ranch Dressing (see recipe below)
* 6 flour Tortillas
* Pico de gallo (see recipe below)
* Tortilla strip crunchies

Place a warm tortilla in a bowl or on a plate. Place approximately 1/3 cup of warmed sweet pork and 1/3 cup of warmed Bush’s beans on the tortilla. Place lettuce over the meat and beans. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of pico de gallo over the salad as desired. Drizzle with cilantro ranch dressing and top with a healthy amount of tortilla strip crunchies. Serve and enjoy.

And this is the BEST part:

Cilantro Ranch Dressing

* 1 package of Hidden Valley ® buttermilk ranch dressing. (prepare according to directions)
* 2 tomatillos (they look like green tomatoes, but they are NOT! You may substitute 3 Tbsp of prepared salsa verde)
* cilantro (1/4 bunch)
* 2 cloves of garlic
* 1/4 cup lime juice
* 1/8 tsp Tabasco

Peel tomatillos and cut into fourths. Clean and rinse cilantro and remove large stems. Pour prepared ranch dressing in a blender, and add cilantro leaves, tomatillos, garlic, lime juice and Tobasco. Blend until cilantro is finely chopped. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until dressing has thickened.
Pico de Gallo

* 1 cup diced tomatoes (remove seeds)
* 1/3 cup diced red onion
* 1 Jalapeno diced (at least a Tablespoon, but more if you prefer)
* 1 Tbsp minced garlic
* 2 limes juiced (about 1/3 Cup of lime juice)
* 1 Tbsp cilantro, plus extra for garnish
* Salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, and stir well. Chill.

Better get drooling. This salad will be the only thing you crave from now on!!