daring cooks: vietnamese beef pho

 

the october 2009 daring cooks’ challenge was brought to us by jaden of the blog steamy kitchen. the recipes are from her new cookbook, the steamy kitchen cookbook, and the recipe jaden chose for us to make is vietnamese pho.

pho (pronounced “fuh”, you say the word like it’s a question) is a vietnamese noodle soup with an intensely flavoured stock. jaden allowed us to choose our own variation and i decided to go with beef as this is what i will always order if i see it on a menu.

so, how did i get on? 

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chinese spaghetti

 

i’ve been craving comfort food a lot recently. i think it’s the very changeable weather that we’re having combined with my optimistic approach which means i see sunshine, dress lightly and then shiver my way through the day.

pasta is often my default choice for days like this, not least given how quickly it can be pulled together. however, in the spirit of trying new things as much as possible, and because the write-up made it sound absolutely delicious, i recently made sunday nite dinner’s zha ziang mian. aka chinese spaghetti.

this was fantastically quick to make and absolutely delicious. the side salad of carrot and bean sprouts provided a great contrast to the rich meaty “ragu” and added a bit of vegetable content to the meal. i followed the recipe exactly so will leave you to get it yourself from chuck’s blog.

i'm sharing this dish with marye of baking delights who is hosting this week's presto pasta nights.

prawn miso soup with noodles, ginger and pak choi

 

finally! i have finally managed to take a photo of miso soup that looks vaguely appealing.

miso soup is something we eat often, in various guises, and i’ve been wanting to write about it for quite a while. however, steaming bowls of soup are tricky to photograph so it’s taken a while to get a photo i was happy with.

delicious and nourishing, it is the perfect healthy comfort food. as a result, this is my contribution to meeta’s monthly mingle which has comfort foods as its theme. meeta, i hope you like it!

miso soup is also very quick and easy to make and can easily be adapted to what you have in. this recipe has prawns as the star of the show but we also make it using chicken or, for a veggie version, a mixture of interesting mushrooms. give it a try or, if you’re already a fan, let me know which combination is your favourite.

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