Pho!!

My favorite vietnamese dish is definitely pho soup. If you don't know, pho is vietnamese "beef noodle" soup. That makes it sound so plain- there is so much more to it than that. I can't believe I can get a large order of it, complete with fresh basil, cilantro, and everything else, for just $7. It cost way more than that to make it because of the long ingredient list. It is a simple soup however, so if you're feeding a crowd or have a few ingredients growing in your backyard, it's worth making. The best part is, the broth is given alongside all of the fresh ingredients, so each person can assemble their own bowl to their liking. Can't go wrong there!



Ingredients

Beef broth (I use a low sodium version)
Rice noodles
1/2-1 lb steak pieces, brisket, chicken or even tofu (it needn't be beef)
1 red onion, sliced into thin strips
fresh cilantro
fresh basil
green onion
garlic cloves
jalapeno or thai chili pepper, sliced
bean sprouts
lime slices

Lentil Bean Stew

Yum! Delicous! Double this recipe and freeze some, because you will want lots and lots of this yummy, thick, vegetarian soup.




Ingredients
1 bag lentil beans
8 cups water
handful of chopped carrots
1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
splash olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 block (280 grams) frozen chopped spinach


1. First, rinse the lentis good to remove all dirt, make sure there are no rocks in them!
2. Put lentils in water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and continue to cook for about 30 minutes, meanwhile preparing vegetables.
3. Chop onion and carrots, saute in oil for about 5 minutes. Add garlic and remove from heat.
4. After the lentils and water have cooked for about 20-30 minutes, add the veggies
5. Add block of frozen spinach and continue to cook for another 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Salt and pepper to taste. Yum! Healthy! Soup! Serve with cornbread :-D

Chunky Tomato Basil Soup

My mom read this blog yesterday for the first time; she made the interesting note that so far I have been remaking all of my childhood favorites. Well, this is certainly no exception. Campbell's tomato soup and grilled cheese was definitely my comfort food. This tomato soup though is way, way better. Its chunky and delicious and perfect for dunking grilled cheese in!

ingredients
3 pounds ripe, hothouse tomatos
2 small yellow onions
2 cloves garlic
Olive oil
Salt / pepper
Basil leaves, chopped
1/2 cup half and half
1 Cup Milk (or stock for a less creamy soup)




1. The first step is to peel the tomatos. You can roast and then peel, but then you loose too much tomato. The best thing to do is blanch the fruits in boiling water for a few minutes, then transfer them immediately to cold water. The skins should just slide off. (Is anyone else a bit grossed out by the fleshiness of raw tomatoes?)

2. Half the peeled tomatoes and throw into a deep roasting pan, with a hearty swig of olive oil and the chopped onion and minced garlic. Add a pinch of salt and pepper now if you want. Roast at 400 for 25-30 minutes.

3. After roasting, put the tomato mixture into a food processor and puree it.

4. Add the pureed mixture to a soup pot, adding the half and half and the stock/milk as you desire. Then, season and spice! Cook for about 10-15 minutes until hot and well seasoned. Enjoy!

Minestrone Soup

Once, I looked up what "minestrone" soup meant, since the recipes are so many and varied. It boils down to this: Menstra is Italian for soup and -one is a suffix meaning "the big one". So Minestrone is "the big soup", literally, but colloquially means a (usually) vegetable soup made up of whatever leftover vegetables are in season, plus some sort of pasta or rice. Thus, everyone's is different and so are the recipes. Its great though, because you can tweak it to be precisely to your taste.



My mom got this excellent recipe from Cooks illustrated; when I recreated it, this is how mine ended up:


3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 sweet onion, peeled and diced
4 small ribs celery, chopped
1 baking potato, chopped
4 cups spinach leaves, sliced into strips
8 cups water
1 cup finely grated parmesean cheese
salt, pepper
28 oz can whole tomatoes, sliced
1 can cannelloni beans (white kidney beans)
whole wheat bowtie pasta


1. Finely chop all the vegetables (except the beans) and add to the soup pot with about 8 cups of water.

2. Cook on medium heat uncovered, stirring occasionally for about 1 hour

3. Add bow tie pasta, cook until al dente (8 minutes)

4. Add beans, heat and stir until temperature is even

5. Serve and enjoy