Americanized Pho

I love love love Vietnamese food. I guess it stems from having a few friends who are Vietnamese in college and being introduced to the delicious flavors in the best places around, usually their mom's kitchen. I've gotten to the point where I just crave it, since I usually eat it about once a month. Now here is where my problem starts...I live in a very rural part of PA. No Vietnamese restaurants around (although there is, from what I hear, a great Thai place close but I have yet to try it).

So my friend Jei and I decided to have an International Dinner party so we can have a reason to cook our favorite ethnic dishes. I happened to pick this recipe up from Rachel Ray, and I have to say that just about everything she comes up with is awesome, so I knew this would be as well. Since my dutch oven is in storage, I decided to adapt this recipe for the crock pot.

Crock Pot BBQ Pork Pho

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus additional for drizzling
• 1 1/2 pounds pork shoulder (boneless loin chops may also be used)
• 2 quarts chicken broth, divided
• 1 1/2-inch piece ginger root, peeled and thinly sliced
• 4 large cloves garlic, sliced
• Salt
• 1/2 pound vermacelli pasta
• 1 small red onion, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
• 1 lime
• 2 cups bean sprouts
• 1/2 cup mint leaves, torn
• 1/2 cup basil leaves, torn
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
• Sriracha hot sauce, for stirring in
• Plum or hoisin sauce, for stirring in

 

1. For the braised pork: In a skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of oil, about 1 turn of the pan. Sear the pork shoulder on all sides until brown, about 4-5 minutes on each side. Place in crock pot.

2. Pour a quart of chicken broth into the skillet and scrape up all the brown bits with a wooden spoon. Pour over the pork shoulder in the crock pot, set on low and cook for 8 hours or until it's tender and falls apart when poked with a fork. Take the pork out of the pot and set it aside until cool enough to handle. Once cool, shred pork with two forks and strain the liquid into a soup pot.

3. Add to the soup, the remaining quart of stock and 2 cups of water. Then add ginger and garlic and reduce heat to simmer.

4. Cook pasta according to package directions and drain.

5. Place red onions in small bowl. Using a vegetable peeler, peel zest off lime in a long curl or 2, then very thinly slice into small, thin strips. Cut the lime into wedges.

6. Turn a small bundle of noodles on a fork and place a bundle each in 4 deep soup bowls. Top with smoky pork strips and douse with a squirt of lime. Remove ginger and garlic from broth with a spider or slotted spoon. Ladle lots of hot, fragrant broth over pork and noodles. Add in onions, lime zest, sprouts, herbs and sauces as you like.

It was a total hit! You can use regular angel hair pasta for this recipe like Rachael does, but I can usually find the more authentic vermacelli noodles at the Asian market (I actually found these when I had my outing to Wegmans).  This is a great recipe for a party because you can set out all the toppings and people can doctor up the soup as they like it. Also this makes a ton for not that much money. I used pork country style ribs as I couldn't get that small amount of pork shoulder. The best part is that broth! Cooking the pork in the broth just makes it sooo yummy!! Enjoy!