Friday, January 11, 2013

Easy Phò


Yummy Final Product

The Beauties were lucky enough to get together last weekend and do what we do best: eat & drink! We were especially celebrating this Beauty and soon to be mama!

Beautiful Ems
Since I am in a month of retirement, after the weekend I got to go to Emily's to keep celebrating and I made dinner for her and Curtis since they both had to work. I love noodle soup and one of my very favorites is Phò.  Phò is a Vietnamese noodle soup but my favorite part is all the fresh herbs and condiments that dress it up. The biggest problem with finding a recipe that qualified as easy since they all seem to include strange cuts of meat (oxtail anyone?) and it takes hours to make the broth. Even in retirement, I don't have the patience to spend four hours making broth. But I was not deterred! There had to be a cheater way that is just as good and I think I found it!  This was yummy, easy, and a perfect meal on a cold winter night in the Northwest with some of my favorite people & furry friends.  You can also make it vegetarian very easily.  

You can find the original recipe here.
Ingredients in Cheesecloth
Easy Pho

Ingredients:

2 Boxes Beef Broth (could use Chicken or Vegetarian)
1/2 Tsp Anise
1/2 Cinnamon Stick
2 Whole Cloves
1 Tsp black peppercorns
1  slice fresh ginger root
1 T white sugar
1 T fish sauce

1 package cooked Udon Noodles (you can find in the fresh/veggie section usually)

2 packages thinly sliced pork (you could use chicken or mushrooms)



Toppings:

Sriracha
Hoisin Sauce
Chopped green onion
Chopped fresh cilantro
Chopped fresh basil
Bean Sprouts
Limes, quartered

Put anise, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, and ginger root in cheesecloth and tie up.  Side note: We had an adventure with this. Emily had the cheesecloth but we had to do a little searching for tying it.  I probably wouldn't have even had cheesecloth but I found these at Bed, Bath, & Beyond.  If I had a kitchen, I would get some for mine.
Emily doesn't it know it yet but I bought her some!
Simmer spices in the two boxes of broth for 1 hour. Add meat of choice and simmer for 1/2 hour. The udon noodles need to be warmed up or put in boiling water for just a few minutes. If you are more of a Missy cook (aka cheater), and like we did you can put the broth and meat on top of noodles and then microwave for a minute.   Add condiments and enjoy!   The longest part of this meal is the chopping.


4 comments:

  1. Those spice bags are brilliant, it's a good thing I have you to introduce me to kitchen necessities such as these! And I’ve always wanted to make homemade Pho but have been thrown off by the process involved, so thanks for inventing and introducing us to this easy recipe. I’m not going to lie, I’ll still get take out Pho, but I’ll also make it homemade using your recipe! And thanks for cooking for us – you’re the best!

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  2. a) What is Anise and where is it found? b) I seriously considered buying for myself that shirt Beautiful Ems is wearing the day she bought it at MM. I can probably fill it out now after last weekend. c) I like how there is now a genre of cheater cooks called "Missy Cooks" and d) this looks really yummy and I'm hungry!

    Happy retirement Megan!

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  3. PS. I'm pretty sure I looked like a prego super model before last weekend, but since the Beauties got to me, I now look 11 months pregnant. All that good food was 100% worth it!

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  4. Holy cow that looks so good. Emily, you are totaly a prego super model.

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