Pho & Vietnamese Salad

 

I've now made these recipes twice - once on a cooking Zoom with a friend-of-a-friend, and once last Friday with five of my friends. I keep tweaking things to streamline, but this is an amazingly delicious recipe. Make it! 

 

Vietnamese Pho Soup

Serves 6 people

PHO BROTH INGREDIENTS:   Extra broth can be saved and frozen.

·         2 large Walla Walla sweet onions, peeled and halved

·         2, 3-inch pieces of fresh ginger root, peeled and cut into halves

·         3-4 tsp star anise or fennel seeds, toasted (OR 3-4 tsp ground anise or fennel powder)  

·         6 whole cloves (OR ½ tsp ground cloves)

·         3-5, 3 inch cinnamon sticks (OR  2 to 2 ½ tsp ground cinnamon)

·         3-4 cardamom pods (OR couple pinches of ground cardamom)

·         1 ½ tablespoons whole coriander seeds (OR 3 tsp ground coriander)

·         12 cups good-quality beef, chicken or vegetable stock (this is 3 boxes of 32 fl oz stock)

·         1 ½ tablespoon brown sugar (optional - I leave it out)

·         3 teaspoons fish sauce (optional, but delicious – tamari or soy sauce for vegan)

·         1 teaspoon Sriracha (or red curry paste) – (optional)

·         Sea salt, to taste

PHO SOUP INGREDIENTS (substitute with your favorites):

 

·         12-15 oz UNCOOKED steak, chicken or pork, very thinly sliced (while still very cold/partially frozen) OR 1” cubes of FIRM tofu

·         8-12 oz UNCOOKED thin rice noodles or other flat noodle (Shirataki or Miracle Noodles perfect an easy)

·         1 medium sweet onion, very thinly sliced (or green onions)

·         Bean sprouts

·         Lime wedges

·         Handful of fresh herbs (cilantro, mint, and/or Thai basil)

·         Thinly-sliced jalapeno chiles

·         Sriracha sauce

Prep the protein in one of two ways. Either remove your meat from the freezer (to fridge) a couple hours ahead of time to let it defrost slightly OR put fresh meat into the freezer for 30-60 minutes before you are going to use it so it will freeze slightly and be easier to slice.  Both ways will allow your meat to be partially frozen and make it easy to thinly slice before adding it to the broth. 

Make the broth.  Turn your oven broiler onto HIGH.   Place the baking rack about 8 inches away from the heating element.   Broil that onion halves and ginger chunks for about 7-10 minutes, under broiler until the tops of the onion and ginger are slightly charred.  Then remove and set aside.   

While the onion and ginger are broiling, briefly heat the spices (whole or ground) on medium heat in a LARGE stockpot for about 2-3 minutes until fragrant (toasting brings out their flavor).  Stire them occasionally so they don't burn.  After toasting the spices, add the charred onion, ginger and broth to your stockpot and stir well. 

If you are using curry paste or Sriracha, measure out your curry paste into a very small bowl, add 2-3 Tbsp of broth to it and whisk well.  Add this liquid to the broth.

Cover and let this mixture come to a simmering boil.  Then turn down the heat a bit to medium low and let everything simmer together for at least 30 minutes so the flavors blend well.  Next, strain out and discard the onion and ginger root pieces and spices.  Then stir in the fish sauce, salt, and (optional) brown sugar.  Taste your broth for good flavor and add more salt/spice if needed.  

Prep the noodles. Meanwhile, as your broth is simmering, cook the noodles al dente according to the package instructions.  Drain in a strainer, then toss briefly with cold water to prevent the noodles from continuing to cook. Put them back into your cooking pot, add a little oil to prevent them from all sticking together and set aside.

Prepare the vegetables and garnishes. 

Chop up your fresh onion, herbs, cut your lime wedges and your jalapenos into slices if desired.  

Assemble the bowls.  Just before assembling the bowls, add your thinly sliced meat to the hot simmering broth and stir well.  Make sure the meat slices all get cooked thoroughly.

Note:  If you are using tofu, make sure it is drained and cubed ahead of time.  Then add it into the broth now so it can heat up for a few minutes. 

Add a handful of noodles to each individual serving bowl, top this with your slivered onions, and finally add ladles of your meat or tofu and the hot broth into the serving bowls.  Top with fresh herbs, lime wedges and jalapeno slices if desired. 

Recipe adapted from https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/pho-recipe/ & Andrea Roelen, Hummingbird Kitchen

Vietnamese Cabbage, Jicama and Pear Salad  Serves about 4-6 people

SALAD INGREDIENTS (substitute as desired - this is also great with just chopped cabin and arugula):

½ Walla Walla sweet onion, diced

2 cups purple or green cabbage, roughly chopped

1 tart apple (Granny Smith or Cripps Pink are great), cored and julienned

2 cups jicama, grated (or subbed diced/julienned daikon radish)

1 large carrot, grated

1 firm pear, cored and julienned

¼ cup mint leaves, finely chopped

¼ cup toasted peanuts, lightly crushed for garnish (optional)

Chop up the onion, cabbage, apple, jicama, carrot, pear and mint leaves and add to a large bowl.  Set aside.  Toast peanuts in a dry skillet for a few minutes until golden brown.  Roughly chop them up and use them later as a salad topping garnish. 

 

DRESSING INGREDIENTS:

4 Tbsp canola or avocado oil

¼ cup onion, finely minced

3-4 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4-1/2 tsp. powdered ginger (or to taste)

1 Tbsp. Sriracha sauce (or more to taste)

4 T fish sauce (tamari, soy sauce or liquid aminos if vegan)

¼ cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)

2 Tbsp sugar, depending on desired sweetness (optional – I don’t use any sugar)

 

Add the onions, garlic, ginger and Sriracha to a small mixing bowl.  Add the fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar (optional - and it is perfection without it, so why add sugar?).  If adding, whisk well until sugar dissolves thoroughly into the dressing.  

Add the dressing to the salad ingredients and mix very well.  Taste and add salt if needed to bring out the flavors. Serve into portions and top with crushed peanuts. This dressing keeps well in the refrigerator for a couple weeks. 

Recipe adapted from Vietnamese Table, PCC Cooks

 

 

 

Vegan Caesar Salad

Years ago, a friend recommended the book Thug Kitchen, and I discovered a handful of favorite recipes in it. Amusingly, it took me nearly the whole book to realize that it was all vegan recipes. It's possible that I was distracted by all of their foul language in the book, but I think it was just that there were SO many great gems in there. One of the recipes that I copied but hadn't tried (until today) was their Almond Caesar Salad, and now I really wish I'd tried it years ago because it's fantastic!

Vegan Caesar Dressing

1/3 cup sliced or slivered almonds

1/3 cup hot water

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tbs. lemon juice

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. rice vinegar

1 Tbs. capers

(Optional, but delicious - 1 Tbs. nutritional yeast to toss with salad)

Put the almonds in a glass with the hot water and let them soak for 15 mins. Chop the garlic. When the almonds are done soaking, put them in a blender or food processor with the garlic, olive oil, lemon, mustard, and vinegar. Blend it up until it's creamy and the almonds are blended. Add the capers then blend again to combine. 

I used 5 Tbs. of dressing on about 3/4 head of red leaf lettuce, and tossed 1 Tbs. nutritional yeast and a handful of croutons. I added chicken to my lunch salad too, making it not vegan, but this might be my new favorite Caesar...

 

Chicken Piccata & Kale Caesar

It's time to dust off the old cooking blog and get my current recipes on here, as people have been asking...

This was a hit with everyone in the house, so it'll be dinner tomorrow, and we're making it with some family on Zoom or Teams. We'll add in Mads' fave smashed potatoes (small goldens or reds, steamed or boiled, then crushed on a cookie sheet, drizzled with EVOO and seasoned/roasted), and Kale Caesar (adapted from Dr. Andrew Weil, and enjoyed in our home at least twice a week).

Chicken Piccata (Chicken with Lemon and Capers)

Serves 6-8 (great for leftovers)

3-4 chicken breasts split in half into cutlets (or sub thighs if you prefer)

1/2 cup flour

2 tsps lemon pepper

2 tsps salt

2 tsps garlic powder

2-3 lemons (zested, and juiced)

4 Tablespoons olive oil

1.5 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup capers

4 garlic cloves, pressed or minced

1-2 Tablespoons half-and-half

Split your chicken breast in half (into cutlets) and then pound them thin (I do this in a Ziploc bag with a rolling pin). I then cut each half into two or three pieces. If you're using thighs, just pound them thin. Two chicken breasts fed our family of four dinner, with leftovers for lunch for two the next day.

Mix the flour and seasonings together in a pie pan or on a large plate, and coat the chicken pieces. Add pieces to a large skillet to brown, about 8 mins, depending on thickness. Turn the chicken to brown evenly. Move the chicken to another plate or pan as you finish cooking all of the chicken.

Whisk together the lemon juice and zest, broth, and garlic, then pour it into the chicken drippings in the pan. Stir and reduce a bit, and add half-and-half. Add the chicken back to the pan, and sprinkle in the capers to warm up to serve.

Kale Salad

5-6 cups chopped Italian (Lacinato) kale, ribs removed (or a triple-washed package of baby kale)
Juice from 1 large lemon, or two small lemons
4-5 Tbs. olive oil (truffled olive oil from Trader Joe's is amazing in this)
4 cloves pressed, fresh, garlic
Kosher or sea salt (to taste)
lemon pepper (or Penzey's Sunny Spain) to taste
3/4 cup shaved or grated Parmesan, Asiago, or other hard, flavorful cheese

Whisk the fresh-squeezed lemon juice, olive oil, pressed garlic and seasonings in a large salad bowl, then add all but 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese and whisk again. Let sit for at least 5 minutes, just before serving, and top with remaining Parmesan.

Summer: Pea Patch Salad

Fast Food: 3 mins. flat

Rocket, tomato, avocado, mahi mahi (leftovers from earlier this week), a splash of apple cider vinegar, a dash of sesame oil, and a grind of sea salt and pepper. Done.