I suppose my love of travel has helped develop my palette, because I now have a rule for myself to try anything once. So having been to almost 30 different countries, I have had ample opportunity to try lots of...interesting things. Also, my husband has a bit to do with my interest in food, as he worked in a kitchen for 10 years so he brought more culinary skill to our relationship than I did. After trying new foods, experiencing my husband's wonderful cooking and just opening my mind (and palette) I began to think maybe I could do this.
To be honest it has been a tricky process and I've learnt lots of things; how to cut things, new culinary terms, and what types of flavors go together. I still live by the book (the cookbook that is). I am not creative enough (yet) to dream things up on my own but I can usually figure out where I can take liberties, and tweak things more to my liking.
Recently I've been posting photos of my kitchen adventures on my facebook account, but I felt there may be a better place for my exploits. For one, I'm sure not everyone on my facebook cares what I am eating for dinner (or dessert). Secondly, I would like to elaborate more on what I've made, and how I've made it so perhaps some of my friends might be able to benefit from my trial and error. I'll try and provide insight on the recipe, and certain ingredients because there was a point in my life that I was not familiar with anything remotely exotic or ethnic, and unsure what to do with anything foreign.
So here is my first official post, for my dinner tonight; Pho (pronounced Fa). I discovered this recipe on Pinterest (where nearly all of my inspiration comes from now-a-days) and decided to try it tonight since it is a bit chilly out and Pho is a nice warm soup with lots of lovely Asian flavors. I hope you enjoy, Buono Appetito!
Ingredients:
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
2 - 3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/4th tsp salt (or to taste)
6 cups chicken broth (no/low salt)
1 jalapeno, thinly sliced and deseeded
3 green onions, sliced
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
5 -6 baby bok choy, chopped (or pulled apart)
5 oz chinese noodles (about half a package)
sriracha sauce for serving (optional)
chopped cilantro for serving (optional)
Directions:
Heat the sesame oil over medium high heat in a large heavy-bottomed stock pot. Add the minced garlic and ginger and briefly saute for about 30 seconds. A tip for the ginger, it needs to be peeled (fyi) and the best way to peel it without cutting away too much of the actual "meat" of it is to use a spoon and just gently scrape it (thanks for the tip, my brilliant hubby!). You can cut off any of the knobbly bits with a knife though.
Add the chicken and bok choy, sprinkle with salt, and saute for another three minutes until chicken has turned white but not completely cooked all the way through. Another little hint, bok choy is generally really dirty when you get it from the store, I would suggest either soaking it in cold water to get the dirt out of all the nooks and crannies or instead of chopping it, just cut the bottom, hard, white bit off and pull the leaves apart. That way it is in smaller pieces (so no need to chop) and also easier to clean. Because nobody wants dirt in their soup!
Add the chicken broth, jalapeno and green onions to the pot and bring to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes until chicken is done. I like to use no salt, or low sodium chicken broth because you're going to be adding soy sauce and other salty elements anyways. Don't want to over do it with the salt. Plus if you want it to be more salty you can always season it afterwards. There are so many other flavor elements though, that really it shouldn't matter if you skimp on the salt.
Meanwhile, cook the noodles in boiling salted water, drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside. I used rice vermicelli noodles because I like a very thin and delicate noodle but really you could use any type of Asian noodle. I love Superstore, because they have a really good ethnic section, where you can find all varieties of noodles as well as some of the other ingredients on this list.
Add the rice vinegar and soy sauce and stir. Give it a taste and see if the flavor is where you want it to be. Add the noodles to the pot and serve with chopped cilantro and sriracha sauce on the side. Now I loooove cilantro, it is such a bright and fresh flavor but I know it is a love it or hate it kind of herb so if you absolutely hate it then obviously leave it out. I am not a spicy person so I veto the sriracha sauce, but some people put that stuff on everything, if that's you, have at it!
I know there are a lot of ingredients in this, and some of them you may not have lying around your house, but I assure you they are all necessary. Each one builds different flavor so it may taste ok without one thing or another, but you won't be getting the full extent of what it should be. I've upped the amount of bok choy in this recipe because I love bok choy and I like having the crunchy texture to balance the noodles.
I hope you enjoy my first blog post, and my first recipe (hopefully of many to come)!
Source: Modified from eat, live, run
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