delicious, delicious phở bò

On Tuesday, Danno and I woke up dark and early for a quick turn-around trip in San Francisco (I have a bit to share from that trip, but that's another post). We spent two days in one of our favorite places, and when we returned very very late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning, depending how you look at it, I felt pretty run down. All day Thursday, I braved twelve hours of classes with a slightly sore throat. Chalking it up to my being exhausted, I went to sleep Thursday night, thinking a good chunk of rest would fix me right up.

I was wrong. 

Sometime between the flight back to Phoenix and my time in studios all day, I came down with a nasty something. I spent a good part of Friday morning in a Doctor's office, and since then, I have been either resting or trying to rest. It's a weird balance between being hopped up on the pseudoephedrine in the Mucinex I was prescribed, and the utter exhaustion from the epic battle that is currently happening in my body right now. I sometimes don't know whether to go run a mile or take a nap.

Needless to say, I needed to eat something that was hot, comforting, delicious and not from a can.

I needed phở bò.
And I needed it to be made by my loving fiancé.

Surprisingly so, phở bò, or beef phở, is very easy to make. Most of the work goes into choosing and slicing ingredients, the rest of it is simply waiting for time to pass.

first up, the mise en place.

While waiting for the beef stock, garlic, and ginger to come to a boil and then rest, it was cutting time. He washed and chopped the scallions, cilantro, and thinly sliced the beef tenderloin.

During the two minutes in which the beef stock, garlic, and ginger mixture to come to a boil and the ten-minute resting period, he had plenty of time to chop the green onions and the cilantro, and slice up the beef tenderloin, wash the bean sprouts. He also had plenty of time to bring water to a boil and cook the rice noodles. The recipe does not make mention of this, but the noodle part of everything should come after everything has been prepped for quick and easy assembly.

 After the stock mixture has rested and everything has been chopped and sliced, he simply put everything together! Noodles first, then sliced beef, then cilantro and scallions, and then bean sprouts. Then, it gets topped off by the broth mixture. The recipe calls for two tablespoons of fish sauce to be divided between four servings. Since there are two of us, he simply put a couple splashes in each bowl and then a little bit of soy sauce and (of course) Sriracha.

After a total of fifteen minutes of preparation, I was served this bowl of delicious, hot phở.

It was amazing, perfect for this chilly weather, and a perfect recipe to throw together for a sick loved one... with that said, here is the recipe Danno used, adapted from the Photo Cookbook for iPad:

(ingredients)

8 cups beef stock
1tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
1 tsp chopped garlic (the kind that comes in a jar)

1 package of rice noodles (the recipe calls for 9oz, but we really like noodles)
approximately 1 lb. beef tenderloin or sirloin steak, thinly sliced (the recipe calls for 14 oz., but we used a little less and still loved it)
4 scallions/green onions, chopped
12 oz bean sprouts, washed and drained
3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
fish sauce (optional)

sriracha and soy sauce

(and the recipe)
1. Heat the stock with the ginger and garlic until boiling, remove from heat, and let infuse for ten minutes.
1a. While the stock is cooking and infusing, chop your veggies and slice the beef if you haven't done so already.

2. Cook the rice noodles in boiling water for three to four minutes, until just tender. Drain the noodles and divide them between the bowls you will be eating from. (The recipe actually calls for four bowls, but since there are two of us, we simply kept the leftover noodles in a pyrex container to cool and use for leftovers tomorrow)
3. Top with the sliced beef and scallions, then strain over the boiling stock.
4. Stir in the bean sprouts, fish sauce, and cilantro.
5. Serve the noodle soup, with Sriracha and soy sauce to taste.