Ingredients:
- 1 pork tenderloin (about 1 pound)
- 1 pound pork or beef bones (optional)
- 2 teaspoons canola oil
- 3 garlic cloves, smashed
- 2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
- 2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
- 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced into 1/4 –inch-thick pieces
- 1 bunch fresh cilantro, stems and leaves separated
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 dried bay leaf
- ¼ teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1 star anise
- 8 ounces dried rice vermicelli noodles
- 2 limes, quartered
- ½ cup bean sprouts
- 1 fresh red chile (such as Fresno or red jalapeno), thinly sliced
Serves 4
Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
A giant, steaming bowl of Vietnamese pho is a soup that keeps on giving: there is the deep rich broth, the springy noodles, the tender pork, the bite of fresh herbs, and the sharpness of spicy chiles. In my version, I create a rich stock using pork or beef bones (ask the butcher at your supermarket’s meat counter for the bones – they should be pretty cheap to buy) and half a pork tenderloin. The rest of the pork tenderloin is added with the noodles and cooks up in just 10 minutes.
Directions:
- Thinly slice half the pork tenderloin and coarsely chop the rest. Add the pork bones (if using) to a large soup pot set over medium-high heat, and brown them, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the bones from the pot and set aside.
- Add the canola oil to the pot and heat until shimmering, about 30 seconds, then stir in the smashed garlic and cook until golden and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the carrots, celery, onion, and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to brown, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the chopped pork and cilantro stems, 1 teaspoon of the salt, the bay leaf, coriander seeds, and star anise. Pour in 10 cups of water, return the bones to the pot, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 1 hour.
- Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean large pot. Return it to a boil, then add the thinly sliced pork and the rice vermicelli. Cook until the pork is tender and the noodles are cooked through, about 10 minutes.
- Season the soup with the remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Ladle into bowls and serve with lime quarters, bean sprouts, cilantro leaves, and chile.
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Reprinted from Supermarket Healthy: Recipes and Know-How for Eating Well Without Spending a Lot. Copyright © 2014 by Melissa d’Arabian. Photographs © 2014 by Tina Rupp. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Random House LLC.