The Final Countdown begins with Pho

 I recently received the exciting news that I will be leaving New York in six months to become a full-time student for the next two years in a place that is a very far cry from New York.  While I am ecstatic to begin this new chapter in my life, I am going to be sad to leave behind all the people, places, and activities that have made my five years in New York so special, so like a person who's been told he has six months to live (and for me, the thought of enduring two years of cafeteria food and microwave dinners feels a bit like that), I have created a list of things to do before I leave this great city.  While my list includes a lot of special, only in New York activities (picnic in Central Park, run around the island of Manhattan), it also includes a category of items that most New Yorkers would not dare do: "Challenging Foods to Cook!"  In six months, I'll not only to be kitchen-less, but I'll also have limited time to do much cooking, so I have decided to try to make an effort all those foods that I have always wanted to make, but never made the time or the effort to cook.

First up on my cooking list was pho, the Vietnamese soup.  After making it, I realized that making pho is not at all the challenge I assumed it would be, although after about four hours of preparing it plus a couple more hours wandering the streets of Chinatown in search of the right ingredients, a $5 bowl at a pho joint seems like an even better deal.  I made pho bo, or beef pho, using thin slices of cooked brisket and raw sirloin, but the technique for pho ga (chicken pho) is fairly similar.

The first step to a great pho is to char the skins of the onions and ginger that go into the broth.  If you don't have a hood or a well-ventilated kitchen, it's best to do this step under a broiler or outside on a grill.  If you do, or you don't like me, but know you will be moving out of your apartment in six months, you can roast the vegetables over an open flame.  You want to char the ginger and onions completely, about 15 minutes, turning them frequently as they roast.  Once they are done, let them cool down.  Rinse the vegetables under cool water, peeling off the charred skins.

The central component of pho broth is, of course, the beef bones.  I used about 5 pounds of 2-inch thick shin bones. The first thing you'll want to do is to boil the bones in water for a few minutes, which will remove some of the impurities from the bones, allowing for a clearer broth.  Once boiled, drain the bones.

To make the broth, you combine the beef bones, the onions and ginger, a cinnamon stick, a spoonful each of cloves, star anise, sugar, and salt, a generous pour of fish sauce, and thick strips of brisket with six quarts of water.  Allow this mixture to simmer for an hour and a half.  Then, remove the brisket and continue simmering the broth for another hour and a half.  Drain the broth through a fine mesh sieve and refrigerate it overnight so that the fat solidifies.  The following day, remove the fat from the broth.

The day that you plan to serve the pho, prepare all of the condiments and set them on the table.  Lime juice, Thai basil, mint, blanched bean sprouts, Sriracha sauce, and hoisin are all go nicely with pho.

Once the broth is ready, prepare the bowls: boiled rice noodles, scallions, cilantro, thinly slice onions, thinly sliced cooked brisket, and thinly sliced raw sirloin.  Then pour the hot broth on top of it all.  It's perfection in a bowl.

Italian Seafood Stew

 Stew in mid-August? No thank you.  Seafood stew? Well, now that you mention it...

Italian seafood stew, tomato-based and chock full of just about any seafood you want, is one of my favorite dishes that I have made this summer.  I used a recipe from Marco Canora's Salt to Taste, spiking the tomatoes with plenty of lemon and tossing in calamari, little neck clams, mussels, shrimp. and cod.  However, hot summer days are not meant to be spent fretting over recipes, so toss in whatever spices and seafood you like.  Just keep main components the same-- a soffrito of celery, fennel, and onions, a can of crushed tomatoes, a splash of white wine, and some perfectly cooked seafood-- and you are guaranteed a great seafood stew that, when washed down with a crisp white wine, just might take you from a small studio apartment to a beach on the Amalfi Coast.  Unfortunately for this New Yorker, I was quickly awakened from my dream by a truck barreling down Second Avenue, but I plan to revisit it by making this stew at least one more time this summer.   

Chicken Noodle Soup for the Lazy Cook's Soul

Feverish, congested, and completely run-down the other night, I decided that it was a good time to give chicken noodle soup a try.  In no mood to spend time researching a recipe, I decided to wing it.  Following what I assumed to be the the basic process of chicken noodle soup recipe-- make a broth with chicken, vegetables, and herbs, then cook the noodles-- I surprised myself with how well it turned out.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs thyme
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 bone-in skinless chicken drumsticks
• 2 bone-in skinless chicken thighs
• 1/2 cup elbow-shaped pasta

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat.  Add the carrots, celery stalks, and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften but before they brown, about 5 minutes. 
2. Add the wine to the pot and boil until it is completely reduced, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the bay leaves, thyme, salt, pepper, and chicken to the pot.  Pour in enough water to cover the dry ingredients by 2 inches.  Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.  Simmer for 25 minutes.  Remove the chicken pieces and cut the meat into small pieces.  Add the meat to the pan and discard the bones. 
4. Increase the heat to a rapid simmer and add the pasta.  Cook until the pasta is cooked to your liking.  Taste the soup for salt and pepper.  Remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaves and serve immediately or refrigerate for up to 3 days. 

Butternut Squash Soup

A well-spiced butternut squash soup is the perfect antidote to chilly fall weather. It's ubiqitous on restaurant menus this time of year, but it's easy to prepare at home. For the soup above, I used this recipe from Michael Chiarello, substituting store-bought garam masala for his spice rub and adding a dollop of creme fraiche to each bowl. My only other recommendation would be to try straining the soup prior to serving it, as mine had tiny bits of squash that did not get blended with the rest of the soup. Other than that, this soup was just what I've been craving all autumn long.

Gazpacho

I couldn't let summer pass by without making a batch of gazpacho. This past Labor Day weekend, I used a recipe from Anya von Bremzen's The New Spanish Table to make the Spanish tomato-based soup that is a celebration of summer's bounty. I was slightly dismayed when my soup turned out pink in color, as every other gazpacho I've eaten is bright red, but fortunately the flavor profile was every bit as bright as any gazpacho I've had.

Gazpacho
Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cubed day-old country bread, crust removed
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/8 tsp cumin seeds
• 3 lbs. ripe tomatoes, cored, seeded, and chopped
• 1 small red onion, minced
• 1 Italian frying pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped
• 2 kirby cucumbers, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup chilled water
• 3 tbsp sherry vinegar

Directions:

1. Place salt, garlic, and cumin in a mortar and pestle and mash to a smooth paste.
2. Place bread in a bowl and cover with cold water. Let sit for 10 minutes. Drain and squeeze lightly to extract excess water.
3. Place bread, tomatoes, peppers, onion, cucumbers, and salt mixture in a large bowl. Let sit for ten minutes.
4. Place half of tomato mixture in the bowl of a food processor. Add 1/4 cup of olive oil and process until smooth, approximately one minute. Pour the mixture into a large bowl.
5. Place remaining tomato mixture in the bowl of the food processor along with 1/4 cup olive oil. Process until smooth and pour it into the bowl containing the rest of the soup.
6. Add sherry vinegar and water to the soup. Pour into a blender, or using an emulsion blender, blend until the mixture is completely smooth. Taste soup for salt and vinegar.
7. Place soup in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours before serving.

Stinging Nettle Soup

This soup is inspired by a recipe from Matt Tebbutt's Cooks Country. Yes, this cookbook was the source of the Pheasant Phlop. Fortunately, this recipe did not end in disaster, and made good use of an ingredient I had never cooked with before in stinging nettles. Be sure to handle the nettles with gloves prior to blanching them in water to avoid a stingy situation.

Stinging Nettle Soup

Ingredients:

• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 yellow onions, diced
• 2 leeks, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 thyme sprig
• 2 bay leaves
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 4 large red potatoes, diced
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 bunch stinging nettles, leaves only (handle with gloves), blanched in boiling water for one minute and cooled in ice water (this will remove the stingers, making the nettles safe to handle)
  
• 2 loosely packed cups spinach leaves
• creme fraiche, for serving

Directions:

1. Melt butter in soup pot over medium-low heat.
2. Once butter has melted, add onions, leeks, celery, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme. Saute until vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Add potatoes and stock. Let simmer until potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes.
4. Add spinach and nettles, and let wilt for approximately one minute.
5. Puree soup with a stick blender and taste for salt and pepper.
6. Serve soup in bowls with a dollop of creme fraiche.

Christmas Lima Bean Soup with Short Ribs and Porcini Mushrooms

I’m not sure why I don’t make soup more often. Generally, soup is:

- Easy
- Cheap
- A good way to use up neglected items from the pantry and fridge
- Still delicious when reheated (and soup makes plenty of leftovers to reheat)
- Difficult to screw up

Most of the above can also describe braised dishes, my favorite dishes to cook, but for whatever reasons, I rarely make soups. Last week a recipe for Lima Bean and Porcini Soup that appeared in the New York Times caught my eye because it looked simple enough and would require only a short trip to the store. I decided that for once, I would tackle a soup recipe.

I made a few substitutions based on what I had on hand, using excellent Rancho Gordo Christmas Limas in place of traditional lima beans and short ribs in place of beef shanks. Also, my beans took nearly two hours to cook (due to not being soaked for long enough, I imagine), so the soup had more of a stew consistency than that of a soup. Nonetheless, the earthy, meaty flavors of the lima beans and mushrooms combined with the short ribs produced a hearty soup. Despite the Nor’easter that would be dumping snow upon New York later that night, this soup made me slightly sad that winter was almost over and that time was running out to try more soup recipes.

Here is the soup in the pot:


And in the bowl: