Instant Pot Chicken Phở

This is one of the best recipes I've made in a long time! It is quick and easy enough for a weeknight, and makes fantastic leftovers. 

Usually when I make or order phở it is made with a rich, spicy beef broth, but Phở Gà or Chicken Pho is also very common. The gingery broth is an amazing complement to the chicken.

Using the Instant Pot makes this dish so quick and easy.  I also love the way the pressure cooker makes such a lovely, clear broth.  The most time-consuming part was gathering the spices. 

This recipe is adapted from Epicurious. It will serve 6 as a meal.  Leftovers are even better the next day and the broth freezes beautifully. 

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 medium onions, halved

2-inch piece of ginger, sliced, skin on

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

3 star anise

5 cloves

1 cinnamon stick 

3 cardamom pods, smashed

7 bone-in chicken thighs (about 2-3 pounds)

3 tablespoons fish sauce

1 tablespoon sugar

8 cups water

salt and pepper

rice stick noodles 

Toppings:

cilantro

red and/or green chilis, sliced

green onions, sliced

1 lime, sliced into wedges

Directions:

Push the "Saute" button on the Instant Pot. When the pot is hot, add the oil.  Place the onions, cut side down in the pot and add the ginger.  Cook without stirring for 4-5 minutes until charred. 

Add the corriander, cardamom, star anise, cinnamon and cloves.  Stir for 1 minute. Add the chicken, fish sauce, sugar and water.  Place the lid on the Instant Pot and lock it. 

Press the "Manual" button and set the time for 17 minutes at high pressure.  It will take about 30 minutes in total for the soup to come to pressure and cook.  Once done, let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes, then turn the vent to release remaining pressure.  While pressure is releasing, cook the rice noodles according to package directions. 

Once the pressure is released, remove the chicken to a large bowl. Strain the broth into a large bowl or measuring cup, discarding solids. Skim fat from the top of the broth. Season the broth with salt and pepper to taste. 

Carefully remove the chicken from the bones and discard the skin and bones.  Shred the chicken.  

Place noodles and chicken into individual bowls.  Top with hot broth.  Each person can add their own herbs, chilis, lime and green onions to their bowl to their own taste. 

This soup tastes amazing.  You will love it! 

Split Pea Soup with Ham

Sometimes when you cook a delicious Easter ham, you'll be lucky to have a ham bone left over.  That's the perfect excuse to make split pea soup with ham!

It doesn't look terribly pretty, but it tastes delicious!

Split peas come in yellow or green.  I used yellow peas for this recipe, like traditional Quebecois split pea soup.  

Like so many great soups, this one starts with sauteed carrots, celery and onions.  You can puree the soup later to make it smooth, but I like to keep the texture of the vegetables.  

Add the dried split peas, the ham bone, diced ham and water to the veggies and simmer for an hour. 

That's it!  Easy, warm and delicious. 

Here's what you need:

Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or butter
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 ham bone and 1-2 cups diced cooked ham
500g split yellow peas
8 cups water
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper 

Directions
In a large dutch oven, saute carrots, onions and celery in oil or butter until soft. 

Add split peas, ham bone, ham and water.  Add bay leaf.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for an hour until peas are soft and broken up.  Add more water if soup is too thick.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.   

Serve with fresh bread and a salad for a hearty lunch or dinner. 

Mexican Tortilla Soup

This is the second time I've made tortilla soup on this blog.  My previous recipe uses tomatoes, but this one has a clear broth flavoured with chipotle peppers in adobo and cilantro.

It starts with a broth made from whole chicken legs, onions and garlic and adds a few beef bones for extra meaty flavour.

While the broth is simmering, fry two whole tortillas and 4 tortillas cut into strips. 

After simmering for an hour, the chicken is shredded.  Chipotles, cilantro, onion and crumbled fried tortillas are pureed and added to the broth.

The broth takes on a greenish colour with the puree added in.  The shredded chicken goes back into the soup and I added some corn as well. 

Once the soup is warmed through, place the garnishes in the bowl - avocado, chopped cilantro and shredded cheese.

Ladle the hot soup over the garnishes and top with fried tortilla strips. 

This soup is slightly spicy, hearty and warming. It makes a fantastic winter dinner. 

Here's the recipe, adapted slightly from Mark Bittman's Tortilla Soup recipe in the New York Times. 

Ingredients:
4 large chicken legs
2 meaty beef bones (optional)
1 medium onion, skin on, quartered
1 whole head garlic, halved, skin on
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 corn tortillas
2 chipotles in adobo
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
salt
1 cup frozen corn (optional)
shredded cheese
diced avocado

Directions:

Place chicken legs, beef bones, garlic and 3/4 of onion in a large pot. Cover with water, about 10 cups. 

Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer.  Cook for about an hour. 

Strain the broth through a fine sieve lined with cheesecloth or a coffee filter.  Set chicken aside to cool.  At this point you can also chill the broth to let the fat rise to the surface. 

Meanwhile, slice 4 tortillas into strips. Heat oil in a pan and cook 2 whole tortillas until light brown and crisp, about 1 minute per side. Remove tortillas and drain on paper towels.  Add tortilla strips to oil in pan and toss until brown and crisp, about 2-3 minutes. Drain strips on paper towels. 

Add the chipotles, 1/4 cup cilantro, the remaining 1/4 onion and a teaspoon of salt to a blender.  Crumble in the two whole, fried tortillas and add 2 cups of the broth.  Puree until smooth.

Remove the chicken from the bones and shred the meat. 

When ready to serve, skim the fat from the chicken broth and pour into a pot to reheat.  Add the chipotle mixture and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 10 minutes. 

Add the corn and chicken and bring back to a simmer to warm through.  Season with salt to taste. 

Add avocado, cheese and cilantro to serving bowls and pour soup over top.  Sprinkle fried tortilla strips over the top and add more cheese if desired.  

Enjoy! 

Quick & Easy Pho

Pho is one of my favourite winter comfort foods.  It is widely available and pretty cheap to get a bowl of pho in most places these days.  My medium-sized city has dozens of pho restaurants that sell a huge, steaming bowl of beef, noodles and broth for $8 or less.

But sometimes - like this weekend - it is just too cold to go outside. We've had a huge snowfall in the past few days, so making pho at home is a warming treat.

Pho broth is usually made with beef bones cooked with charred onions, ginger and spices. Serious Eats' The Food Lab has a great tutorial for traditional pho.  I highly recommend checking it out, whether to make the recipe or read an interesting history of the dish.

But I've rarely got oxtail on hand, or the time to boil bones all day.  So this quicky shortcut using store-bought beef broth is a makes home made pho a weeknight meal.  It also adds in mushrooms and greens which, while not traditional, make an even heartier, healthier meal.  This recipe is inspired by Epicurious Detox Pho.

Here's what you need for this tasty soup.  You could double the broth and freeze it for a winter treat any time.

Spring Pea Soup

This extremely simple soup is perfect for spring! It is served at room temperature, so you can make it a little in advance and garnish just before serving.

Of course, fresh peas are the best thing ever. But this tasted very sweet and delicious with frozen peas, so you can enjoy a taste of springtime anytime.  

This recipe is inspired by Cooking Light magazine. Here's what you need for delicious soup:

Pork & Noodles in Mushroom Broth

I love noodle soups. In the wintertime, my favourite thing is some Japanese ramen or Vietnamese phở. Noodles and broth with some meat, veggies and spicy flavours make winter easier to bear.

The roasted pork and rice noodles are served in a bowl of mushroom broth with carrots for a warming meal.

Here's what you need for this quick and fabulous soup.

Curried Corn Bisque

Sometimes, when things get stressful, all you need is a quick, hearty, home made soup to make it all better.  This soup takes almost no time at all and is so warm and satisfying.  It would be great with fresh summer corn but it is so simple and delicious with frozen corn. 

The recipe is adapted from Eating Well magazine.  Here's what you need for soup! 

Corn Chowder

Sweet corn on the cob is one of my very favourite things.  Corn season has just about wrapped up where we are, so I used the last of the summer corn to make this amazing corn chowder.  So much sweet corn flavour!

We've been very lucky this year with our local corn.  Between the local markets and our CSA basket, we've had some pretty delicious cobs!  We like to eat them boiled in lightly salted water with a touch of sugar for just 7 minutes.  We eat them plain, without butter or even salt, unless the corn needs the help.  

I see lots of corn recipes that look interesting, but when boiling and eating is so satisfying, it's hard to put in more effort than that.  But I think this soup is worth it.  It's creamy and filled with amazing corn flavour and texture.  

Tortilla Soup

This recipe was originally intended to use up stale tortillas, but it is so good, I bought fresh corn tortillas just for this soup.  It's rich, spicy and flavourful, and so easy to pull together in just minutes.  

I used store-bought white corn tortillas for this but you can always make your own. 

Here's what you need:

Lobster Corn Chowder

Is there anything as pretty as a seafood chowder?  Chunks of lobster, potatoes and vegetables, fresh corn and bacon.  So tasty!

How about a close-up?

I was lucky enough to find some frozen lobster claws at the supermarket right when the last corn of the season was available.  So I snatched it up and chowder was an easy decision.  

White Gazpacho (With Grapes)

I've never made traditional gazpacho before - "tomato soup served ice cold". But that didn't stop me from attempting a white gazpacho, made with grapes.  I'm not going to say this dish was a rousing success, but it was a good way to make use of grapes, and it tasted interesting.  

Matt came home from the farmers market with these beautiful Niagara grapes.  They were a little sour to eat as a snack, so I thought I'd make something out of them.  I found this recipe for Spanish white gazpacho and tweaked it a bit.  

Here's what you need:

Baked Potato Soup

Here's a nice winter treat. It's not exactly on the healthy menu we've been following lately, but it is a very nice, hearty soup that's great for lunch or dinner on a cold day.  It's inspired by the Pioneer Woman's potato soup.  

Here's what you need:

6 slices bacon
6 russet potatoes
1 onion
3 carrots
3 celery stalks
salt & pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
8 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 cup grated cheddar
3 green onions
sour cream (optional)

Cheddar & Beer Soup

These ingredients are pretty popular around here. To be honest I didn't love the way this soup turned out but I think it might have been because of the beer I used.  We only have fancy beer at home, and the one we chose turned out a little bitter. But if you used a normal ale it would probably be perfect.  This recipe is from Epicurious.  

Here's what you need:

2 medium leeks 
2 medium carrots
2 celery ribs
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
1 bay leaf
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups whole milk (I used a combination of 1% milk and cream)
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1 12-oz bottle beer of (ale)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 lb extra-sharp Cheddar (4 cups grated)
4 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled (optional, I didn't use it)

Detour - Chicago Part 1

Over the holidays we took a trip to Chicago for Matt's birthday.  It was our 3rd time visiting.  It's just a 6 hour drive from home and we love the city!  Shopping is fantastic.  There's so much to see and do.  And the food!  The food is incredible!

Day One:

Our first stop is always on the road. Kalamazoo is the halfway point between home and Chicago.  Michigan has a wonderful beer scene and Bell's Brewery is one of the best in North America.  They have a great little restaurant called the Eccentric Cafe where you can get a terrific lunch and some tasty beer.  They also have a General Store to purchase their beer, along with brewing ingredients and equipment and swag.  We grabbed some fancy beer and headed back on the road.

Once in Chicago we made one more stop at Binny's Beverage Depot.  We usually go to the downtown location but this time we went to Lincoln Park and it was tremendous!  Huge selection of beer, liquor and wine.  Matt bought dozens of interesting beers and I got some Champagne and French sparkling wine for a ridiculous price (they had samples in every aisle!).  I also bought a bottle of interesting tequila and some delicious margarita mix.  Most of this was to bring home but we did consume some in the hotel room as well.  

Next we checked into our hotel, the Amalfi Hotel Chicago.  This was our first time staying here but the whole trip was planned around a great deal we found.  Chicago hotels are often deeply discounted on weekends and this was no exception.  The Amalfi is in a fantastic location on Kinzie Street, just a block from the river and two blocks from the Magnificent Mile.  It was easy to walk to restaurants, shopping and sights.  It also had a wonderful reception each evening with free (!) cocktails and snacks, plus a free continental breakfast each morning.  It was a great place to stay.  

Our first evening we hadn't planned dinner but we knew the Slurping Turtle was close by and wanted to check it out.  Chef Takashi was one of our favourite contestants on Top Chef Masters and we lucked out that he actually popped in to his little soup restaurant while we were there!    

We were seated at a communal table and had a great server who explained the menu.  I'd planned to get ramen but my top choice, Tan Tan Men, turned out to be quite spicy so Matt ordered it instead and I ordered an amazing lobster and crab maki roll and shared a bit of the soup.  Our friends ordered another ramen, Tonkotsu, a traditional pork noodle soup, as well as some sashimi and it was incredible too.  We also had bacon-wrapped asparagus and the most delicious Brussels sprouts in history.  This place is amazing.  I'd love to return for lunch where they have a great looking bento box special.

Day Two:  

Today walked to Millennium Park where we visited the Art Institute of Chicago.  

The collection is pretty amazing and we spent several hours there before heading to Macy's on State Street for shopping.  This Macy's is 7 floors in a beautiful, old building. We had a quick lunch (beer & nachos) at the sports bar at Macy's, then shopped all afternoon.

One of the things we love in Chicago is the amazing Mexican food.  It always astounds me that there's such a huge Mexican population so close to where we live but we can barely get decent Mexican food in our area.

Tonight, dinner at Frontera Grill.  We'd eaten here once before and loved it.  Chef Rick Bayless makes amazing Mexican food at his Chicago restaurants.  They have a limited number of reservations available for Frontera Grill (Toplobampo, the more upscale sister restaurant next door does take reservations).  We managed to secure a reservation months in advance to celebrate the night before Matt's birthday at his favourite restaurant.  

We were seated right away and ordered cocktails.  I had JJ's Elixir: Fig-infused Riverboat rye whiskey, cinnamon agave, fresh lime, Scrump's hard cider. Matt ordered a Fernet-Pear Mojito: D'Aristi rum, Fernet Branca, pear, fresh mint, lime, cane syrup.  We also tried the Oaxacan Gold: Wahaka Joven Espadin mezcal, wood-grilled pineapple, Mexican vanilla, fresh lime.  

For appetizers we all wanted some ceviche. We'd tried it before at Frontera and loved it. We ordered Yucatecan Ceviche: Steamed Mexican blue shrimp & calamari, lime, orange, habanero, avocado, jicama, cucumber & cilantro with tortilla chips, plus Jícama Street Snack: Jicama, cucumber, pineapple, fresh lime and crushed guajillo chile, plus Stuffed Jalapeños: Sweet-sour jalapeños stuffed with Veracruz-style chicken picadillo (tomatoes, capers, olives, herbs), cilantro crema, peashoots and añejo cheese.

All of this should have been enough but then we had a little mix up.  We ordered a half-sized oyster and ceviche platter but were served the full version.  We ate it anyway and the oysters were incredible, but it was way too much food for four people.  And we hadn't even had entrées yet! This is a dozen oysters plus two large tuna ceviche.  

I don't know if I've ever ordered oysters before but now it's all I want all the time.  They were so delicious.  

For our mains, the birthday boy had Duck in Pasilla-Huitlacoche Sauce: Red chile-rubbed Gunthorp duck breast, dark sauce of pasilla & local huitlacoche. Corn husk-steamed tamales studded with sweet corn, smoky green beans, cheese chicharron.

He loves duck and loved this.  A beautiful, complex sauce. 

We've been impressed both times we visited this restaurant at how helpful and professional they are about nut allergies. I was thrilled to hear they had two nut-free moles on the menu.  I wanted to order something Matt could try too. I asked for a recommendation and ordered Chicken in Mole de Calabaza: Garlic-marinated chicken breast, red kuri squash mole, roasted local sweet potatoes & beets, watercress salad.  The chicken was beautifully tender and the sauce was delicious.  Tortillas were served alongside which I shared with Matt for his duck.  

One of our friends ordered Red Chile Meatball Tacos: Classic little Mexican pork meatballs, guajillo chile sauce, braised kale, crispy onions, queso de cincho.

Our other friend ordered the daily special of Chipotle-glazed Gunthorp Farm pork back ribs. Tangy cabbage & black beans. We had a taste of the ribs and they were spicy and delicious.

We don't commonly order dessert when we eat out but they brought Matt a nice little sorbet.  We also ordered boozy coffees and got some lovely tequila complements of the house. 

It was a great way to spend a special day and it's not even Matt's actual birthday yet!  Tune in next time for our last day in Chicago.