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I have recently decided to catch-up on all the recipes that I have missed for French Fridays with Dorie since I have become pregnant again and my husband and I thought that since most of them were sides and sweets that we should include a nice protein to go with our meal, and landed on a much older make-up recipe, the Spicy Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup. My husband was especially drawn to this recipe because it mimics Vietnamese Beef Pho which is so very near and dear to his heart so we set out to get all the ingredients we needed to make this soup.

Originally, I had expected this soup to take quite a bit of time, but it turns out this was quite easy and fast and fantastically delicious! Enamored with Dorie’s ability to use parts of ingredients we would fast throw away, such as the shucked corn cobs for the corn soup we made this past summer, I was excited to make a little bouquet of spices with the stems from a bunch of coriander. My husband set to work tying up the cheesecloth with the coriander and other spices while I prepared the rest of the ingredients for the soup base. This soup came together in about ten minutes, needing another ten to fifteen minutes to bring it to a boil, poach the chicken – simultaneously preparing the noodles and viola! We were ready to eat!

such pretty colors 🙂

our little plate of garnishes...!

and toppings!

I should quickly add that I went to the trouble to pull out the bouqet of spices and the whole thai pepper so I could use my immersion blend the stock so that the bits of onion and garlic were pureed and smooth – which proved to make it just a bit more tasty! Not to mention a great way to get your kids to eat “veggies” since you can also slip some celery and carrots in if you like – although that would make it not “pho” like. I completely recommend this step!

the big assembly! 🙂 My husband has a method and a madness about it...

finally prepped and ready for eating!

Our favorite garnishes for beef pho are the same as Dorie suggests for this soup, bean sprouts, chopped fresh mint, chopped fresh cilantro, Thai chilies, lime wedges, sriracha sauce and hoisin sauce. You simply top your bowl of steaming broth and tender, slim noodles with the garnishes of your choice and try not to inhale an entire bowl in one sitting!

my bowl is a bit more basic, some coriander, bean sprouts, lime and hoisin!

As my husband’s fork hit the bottom of his bowl and the last of the broth slurped up, he quietly stood up and announced on his way to the kitchen that he was in fact not hungry but not ending this meal without a second full helping! I think I can safely call this one a hit in our house! Also, I usually avoid coriander or cilantro because it smells like the weeds that I would pick as a child outside of my house and make into pretend food along with mud pies and rolled up leaves and flower petals and it is just not an herb that I could possibly eat without cringing – but in this soup? Magical! While I use it sparingly and am conservative in the amount that goes into each of my bowls, I really do enjoy the flavor of the cilantro in this soup and can’t wait to make this simple, heartwarming dish for my friends!

If you would like the recipe for this soup, please pick up a copy of Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table and get cookin’! This is one delicious cooking group and we all enjoy making each of the recipes together and hoisting them onto unexpected friends and family! Why not join our little cooking group here?