A good bowl of Pho is one of my favourite things to get for take-out. It’s one of those take-out items that is just as good at home as it is in the restaurant.  Since the broth is packed separate from the noodles and all the toppings, everything stays nice and fresh.

Now, I know this recipe is far from an authentic Pho Ga.  I’m definitely not claiming that it is traditional or anything similar to what you might get in a Vietnamese restaurant. But this is my own version and it’s inspired by my favourite take out spot.

There are a few things that make this recipe so delicious.  The star of the show is really the broth.  Without a good broth, you’re not going to end up with an enjoyable soup.  The second is all the toppings.  I love all the fresh and bright toppings, they really make the soup.  I like to prep a big plate of all the toppings and serve it alongside the soup so you can keep adding more as you go.

The broth for this was adapted from a friend of mine’s blog.  You can check out the original right here, on Christine’s blog, What Do You Crave.  The only reason I even made changes were out of convenience and because of what I happened to have on hand.  I didn’t have leek so I used green onion instead.  I also had some cloves so I through those in the broth as well.  The only other change I made was grilling the vegetables on the BBQ before adding them to the pot whereas Christine baked them in the oven.

I was really impressed with how flavorful the broth came to be in such a relatively short time.  It may seem like kind of pain to make your own broth from scratch but it really is pretty effortless, and is so much better than any result you’ll get using a boxed chicken stock.  I made the broth a day in advance.  This really broke up the process for me and made it feel even simpler.  It’s also easier to skim off excess fat after the broth has chilled in the fridge for a bit.

Another cool thing I did was serve the broth out of my new tea kettle.  It was a fun way to serve everything at the table. To serve everything up, make a big plate of all your toppings.  You don’t have to use exactly the same things I used.  You can add in whatever you want.   Once you’re toppings are all set up, add your noodles to the bowl and then pour in the broth.  Top the soup to your liking and you’re good to go.

Spicy Miso Pho Ga

Makes 4 bowls

Ingredients

For the broth

• 1 whole chicken, 4-5 lbs
• 1 large yellow onion
• small bunch of green onion
• 2 stalks lemongrass
• 1 dried thai chili (can sub in a big pinch of chili flakes)
• 1 thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled
• 2 star anise pods
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 tbsp sea salt
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp miso paste
• 16 oz rice noodles

Optional Toppings 

• Thinly sliced red onion
• Cilantro, torn
• Radishes, thinly sliced
• Green onion, thinly sliced
• Wasabi micro greens
• lime wedges
• Shredded chicken
• soft boiled egg

Method

To make the broth, char the onion, green onion, and ginger on a grill (or under broiler).  Don’t worry about removing the skin from the onion, it will easily come off once its charred.  You want to let everything cook until it’s softened and nicely colored.  The green onions will go quick but the yellow onion and ginger can stay on for about 15 minutes or so.  Remove from grill, and then add to a large stock pot with the chicken.  Be sure to remove any of the remaining charred skin off the onion.  Bruise the lemongrass with the side off a knife and then put that in as well .  Add the cloves, star anise, chili, sugar and salt, and then cover with with about 12 cups of cold water.

Bring it to a boil skimming off the fat as it accumulates on top.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and allow it to cook for about 45 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked.

At this point, carefully remove the chicken and shred the meat off the bone. Set the shredded meat aside for now.

If you can, try to cut the chicken carcass into several pieces, this will help extract additional flavour for the broth.  Put all the remaining bones back into the broth for another 1-2 hours with the pot partially covered.  1 hour will be fine but you can let it go for an additional hour or so.

After 1-2 hours. Remove the chicken bones and then stir in the miso paste to dissolve.

Remove and discard all the remaining vegetables and then put the soup through a fine mesh strainer.  There will still be fat on top that needs to be skimmed off.  At this point you can either begin to prep your toppings, or chill the broth and save it for the next day.

To get ready for serving, cook noodles according package directions and then rinse under cold water.

If you are serving with soft boiled eggs, cook them for 6 and a half minutes and then peel them carefully under running water.

Get all your other toppings ready and place them together on a plate.

Build your bowls by adding noodles and then pouring over the hot broth.  Top as desired and enjoy

Fresh Homemade Tomato Gazpacho 

Gazpacho has got to be one of the absolute best quick and easy summer recipes.  It is definitely up there as one of my favorite things to eat once the weather warms up.  The key to a good gazpacho is to use fresh ingredients.  Since there is no cooking involved, it’s a great opportunity to let the ingredients shine.

The flavors of this particular gazpacho are super bright and refreshing.  Lots of cilantro, fresh lime, red onion, and of course tomato.  I love the freshness of cilantro and lime so I’m pretty generous with it.  Part of why I like this gazpacho so much is because it kind of tastes like a drinkable Pico de Galo, which I have no problem eating by the spoonful anyway.

I need to disclose that KitchenAid was generous enough to provide me with one of their food processors for this recipe but I assure you, all opinions are my own.

Any food processor or blender would work fine for this recipe, but I do admit, I was pleasantly surprised with the dicing feature on the food processor they sent me.  I was hesitant that it would be able to evenly dice a tomato without turning it into mush but after testing it out, I was a big believer.

I’ve always found dicing large quantities of tomatoes to be a bit of a pain but those days are over.  I see large amounts of Pico in my future.

You don’t really need to dice anything for this recipe but I like a bit of additional tomato and cucumber for garnish and a bit of added texture.  If you are content without it, feel free to throw all the ingredients in and process away.  It really is that easy.   At the end of the day, it’s just a mixture of blended vegetables, some olive oil, and some tomato juice.

Feel free to change up the recipe to your liking.  There are so many ways you can easily change it up. You can add more tomato juice to thin it out, take out the jalapeño if you don’t like any heat, or use different varieties of tomatoes.

The flavors of the gazpacho get better and better as it sits in the fridge so I recommend making this the day before you plan to serve it and keep it in the fridge until just before serving.  If you’re tight on time don’t sweat, you can make it day of.  But either way, make sure it is nicely chilled.

As the soup sits in the fridge, it tends to thicken up slightly, so if necessary thin it out with a little bit of tomato juice before serving.  I personally prefer it on the thicker end but that’s totally up to you.

I usually make gazpacho as a snack or appetizer on a hot day but a larger bowl would definitely make for a satisfying meal.  It goes really well with some grilled shrimp and you can add croutons or serve with bread to make it a bit more filling.

Tomato Gazpacho 

Makes about 10 servings

Ingredients

• 6 vine ripened tomatoes
• 1 1/2 English cucumbers cucumbers
• 1 medium red onion
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 stalk of celery
• 2-3 cups tomato juice
• Big handful of cilantro
• 5-6 Basil leaves (optional)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
• A few dashes of Tabasco
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Start by dicing 1 tomato along with 1/2 a cucumber.  Reserve this for garnishing the gazpacho at the end
2. In the bowl of a food processor, add the rest of the tomatoes and cucumber along with the onion, bell pepper, celery, cilantro, basil, garlic, and garlic.  You will need to roughly cut up the vegetables so they fit into the food processor.  Pulse until uniformly pureed.  Add in the tomato juice, oil, vinegar, lime juice and celery salt.  Pulse again until incorporated and smooth.
3. Taste the soup and season to preference with salt, pepper, and a Tabasco.
4. Transfer soup to fridge and chill well before serving.
5. Garnish each bowl with the reserved cucumber and tomato

I love to make soups like this.  They are so easy but so satisfying.  They also don’t really require a “recipe”; you can throw in whatever you feel like depending on your current mood.  The soup comes together pretty quickly, you basically just need simmer the broth for a little while. I like to prep a bunch of different garnishes while the broth is cooking so that when it’s done, I’m ready to eat.

The same goes for proteins; for this soup, I used a sliced up steak and a poached egg.  But you could easily use chicken or go for tofu if you wanted to keep it vegetarian.  Use this recipe as a base and twist it up according to your liking.

Ginger-Lemongrass noodle soup

Ingredients

For the Soup

• 4 cups chicken broth (vegetable is a fine substitute)
• 2 cups water
• 2 Lemongrass stalks, smashed and roughly chopped
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp rice vinegar
• 1″ piece of ginger
• Green onion (white part)
• 1 thai chili, scored
• 1 package of noodles

Garnishes

• Green onions, sliced
• bean sprouts
• enoki mushrooms
• thai basil, torn
• lime

Method

1. Bring all of the soup ingredients (except the noodle) to a boil then reduce to a simmer.  Cover pot and continue to simmer for 30 minutes to an hour depending on how much time you have.  Feel free to remove the chili early to keep the heat down, or even skip it entirely.
2. While the broth is simmering away, prep all of the garnishes to get that out of the way.  Cook noodles according to package directions and divide between your bowls.
3. Get any other proteins ready while the broth is simmering also. I used a sliced up leftover steak and poached egg.  You could also put a chicken breast in the simmering broth for 20-30 minutes and then shred it and divide it between the bowls as well.
4. When the broth is done, put it through a strainer and then ladle it over the noodles.  Garnish soup with desired toppings and enjoy.