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Pork and Rice Noodle Pho
Ingredients

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:

  1. 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.
  1. 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.
  1. 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.
  1. 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.
  1. 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.

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