Bun Bo Hue (Vietnamese Hue Beef Noodle Soup)

** In this picture, I also made pork meatballs to add into the soup. I will post the recipe soon.

This is by no means a quick recipe. Though it is not difficult to make, it will take hours to boil the stock to a rich meaty soup. Well worth it, in my opinion.



Ingredients for the soup:
6 lbs of pork and beef bones (I used half beef bones with the marrow and half pork neck bones)
7-8 stalks of lemon grass, smashed (cut off the dry tops and peel off any dry leaves)
1 large piece of ginger, smashed
1 onion, whole
2 tbsp mam ruoc (vietnamese fish paste)
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup of fish sauce, or to taste
2 lbs pigs feet
1.5 lbs of sliced beef
1 beef shank
1 cha lua loaf (vietnamese ham)
1 lb congealed pork blood, 1.5 inch cubes

Ingredients for oil:
1 tbsp annato seeds
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp mam ruoc
2-3 lemongrass stalks, finely chopped (food processor)
3 tbsp nuoc cham (vietnamese chili garlic sauce) [edit: I made this again with chili powder instead of the paste (approximately 1 tablespoon) and I actually liked the chili powder more because it doesn't change the flavour of the soup as much]

Ingredients for serving:
Bun bo hue vermicelli (It's thicker than regular vermicelli and round, unlike pho)
Basil
Lime
Red Chilies
Beansprouts
Purple Purilla, sliced
Cilantro

Method:
1. Place the pork and beef bones along with the beef shank in the largest stock pot you can find, cover with water and bring to a boil. When the scum begins forming at the top, pour out the water and rinse the bones with water to remove the scum and some of the fat.
2. Place the bones and shank back into the stock pot and cover with water once again. Add the smashed lemongrass, onion, ginger, garlic, mam ruoc and boil for 4 hours on medium-low with a tight fitting lid.
3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil for the annato seed oil in a pan. Place about a tbsp of annato seeds into the oil. When the oil turns dark red, remove the annato seeds either with a spoon or by straining the oil. Put the oil back on the heat and add the minced lemongrass, mam ruoc, and chili garlic paste (or chili powder works just as well). Once the lemongrass has softened a bit, you can take the pan off the heat. At this point, you may want to skim the fat off of the top of the bun bo hue. You'll find that quite a bit has accumulated from the bones. Once you have skimmed off the fat, you can pour the annato seed oil mixture into the soup to turn it a bright red.


4. Boil the bun bo hue noodles in water according to the instructions on your packet.
5. When the soup stock is almost finished, season with the fish sauce (or according to your own taste) Add the pig's feet and pigs blood
6. When the skin of the pig's feet is soft, but still chewy, add the cha lua slices and remove the beef shank from the stock to slice.
7. Put a handful of noodles in the bottom of a large bowl and add the beef slices to the top of the noodles. Pour the boiling soup over the noodles and be sure to include some pig's feet and blood.
8. Serve with the bean sprouts, basil, cilantro, lime, red chili, and purple purilla.

Fresh Basil Pesto Spaghetti

This recipe is fool proof and can be altered to your tastes. It is delicious with salmon or chicken added to it as well.

Ingredients:

1 cup basil leaves
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano, grated
1 garlic clove, peeled
1/4 cup cream
Handful of dried spaghetti


Method:

1. Boil pasta in a pot of boiling salted water until al dente.


2. Toast the pine nuts in a sautee pan for about 2 minutes, tossing to make sure that they don't burn.

3. In a blender, blend the pine nuts, basil leaves, grated parmesan, olive oil and the clove of garlic until a smooth paste. If it's not blending smoothly, then drizzle in some more olive oil until the mixture comes together.

4. In a saute pan, heat the cream and add the al dente pasta. Put about 4 tablespoons of the pesto (or desired amount) and mix until the cheese in the pesto begins to melt and thickens the cream sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.



5. Serve immediately.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

This soup ended up being quite rich. It's best served in small portions. It really isn't a low calorie kind of soup.

Ingredients:
3 lbs broccoli, in small pieces, stems cut into bite size pieces and separated from florets
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1.5 cups heavy cream
1 carrot, diced
4 pints chicken stock (or milk works too)
2 small russet potatoes, peeled and chopped in small pieces
3-4 cups grated cheddar cheese

Method:
1. In a large stock pot, melt the butter and whisk the flour into it.
2. After about 1 minute of cooking the butter and flour through, add the cream slowly, whisking to reduce lumps.
3. Add the chicken stock or milk and add the broccoli stems, diced carrots and the cubed potatoes.
4. Cook until the broccoli stems and potatoes are soft. Try to crush the potatoes with the back of a ladle of a potato masher. This gives the soup a thicker consistency.
5. Add the cheddar cheese and broccoli florets and cook for 1 more minute, until the florets are soft and the cheddar is melted.
6. Serve with some crispy bread or just by itself

The Freshest Salsa Ever

I used to dislike salsa because I had always had the kind that was out of a jar. It had no "zing" and it was mushy without much taste to it. My mexican friend showed me how he made his salsa.

Ingredients:

4 large sized tomatoes, diced with seeds and watery parts removed
2 limes, zested and juiced
8 grinds of black pepper
1 tbsp salt
1.5 sticks of celery, diced
1.5 green pepper, diced
6 dashes Tobasco (or to desired spiciness)
3 tbsp cilantro, chopped
1/2 onion, diced

Method:
1. Combine all ingredients in a large jar and give it a good shake. Test for flavours, but make note that the flavours will absorb into the salsa more if you give it 10 minutes marinading time.

Grilled Tandoori Chicken

Ingredients:

1 cup Yogurt

6 tbsp tandoori masala

10 drops of red food colouring

15 pieces of chicken upper legs and lower legs

1 lemon

salt and pepper

Methods:

1. Peel the skin off of the chicken and make several deep cuts into the meat (to the bone) so that the marinade can penetrate the meat more easily

2. Marinade the chicken with lemon juice (tenderizer) and salt

3. Mix the yogurt, tandoori masala and red food colouring with salt and pepper. You can adjust hte red food colouring to your liking. I notice that the chicken gets darker red as it cooks. This is the colour of my chicken before I cooked it.

4. Marinade the chicken in the fridge for at least 5 hours or overnight is best.

5. Before cooking, take the chicken out of the fridge for 1 hour so that the chicken can come to room temperature

6. Grill over a charcoal barbecue or put it in a 375 degree Fahrenheit oven for approximately 20 minutes, or until just cooked.

Oyster Motoyaki

This has got to be the easiest recipe ever! It's great for when you have guests over because it looks so complicated, but it only really takes 5 minutes of preparation!

Ingredients:

4 fresh large oysters

2 tablespoons of dark miso paste

1/2 cup japanese mayonnaise (I use Kewpie brand, see above)

3 tbsp chopped green onion
1 tablespoon of sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to the broil setting

2. Shuck the oysters. Remove the top (the flat side) and loosen the oyster from its shell. If you're having trouble with this, it helps to throw the oysters in the oven for 5 minutes so the shells open up a little first.

3. In a bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients.

4. Top the oysters with the mayonnaise mixture. Salt is not necessary because the mayo already has salt in it.

5. Put the oysters in the oven on a rack that is a little higher than the middle of the oven and bake for 6-8 minutes, or until the top of the mayonnaise is golden brown.

6. Serve immediately, because cold oysters will taste fishy and unfresh.

Herb Roasted Chicken with Bread Stuffing

Serves 6-8 people
I've also tried a version of this recipe in which I put herbed butter under the skin of the chicken. It was even better! For the herbed butter, I just mixed up a stick of butter with the chopped poultry herbs

Ingredients:
2 whole chickens, giblets removed and wings tucked under
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 loaf of crusty french bread, in crouton size pieces
1 lemon
2 carrots, in big pieces
2 zucchinis, in big pieces
1 pound of baby potatoes, cut in half
1 onion, diced
1 bag of poultry herbs, chopped (available at Superstore. I believe it has rosemary, thyme, sage and parsley) or dry herbs
2 tablespoons of dried rosemary
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper

Method:
1. After cleaning the chicken, season very liberally with salt, pepper, and the poultry herbs. (Make sure to get the inside cavity too.)
2. While the chicken is marinading, heat a saute pan with a little bit of oil and add the garlic, onion, bell peppers and the french bread. Season well with salt and pepper and a little bit of thyme, if desired. Squeeze some lemon juice over the mixture and let cool before stuffing the chicken.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
4. Toss the carrots and potatoes with the olive oil, rosemary, and salt and pepper. Place them in the bottom of a roasting pan.
5. Stuff the chicken with the bell pepper mixture and tie the thighs together for even cooking and to keep the stuffing from falling out.
6. Place the chicken on top of the vegetables in the bottom of the roasting pan.
7. Bake for approximately 2 hours. You will know that it's cooked when the juices run clear (not bloody) and when the thickest part of the meat (the thigh) is cooked.
8. In the last 15 minutes of cooking, throw in the zucchini (and make sure to toss it in the oils/juices at the bottom of the pan, otherwise they'll dry out..