Homemade Pho

Often when I have leftover anything I wonder what I can do with it. In this case, it was leftover bones from a roast. "Surely," I thought, "these bones could make broth for Pho. . . " And yes, with a couple Asian ingredients, boiling down scraps of bones make for deep broth primed for Pho. Once you have the broth, you decide what meat and ingredients you want. . . I totally made this up from about five recipes that I read and what I had in the pantry.

At least 1 lb. of beef or pork soup bones

1 onion, unpeeled and quartered

2 T fresh ginger, peeled and cubed

2 pods star anise

1 T fish sauce

1 cinnamon stick

1 dried lemongrass stick

2 whole cloves

2 teaspoons whole coriander seeds

1 tablespoon soy sauce (substitute tamari if making gluten-free)

1 tsp. sugar

4 quarts water​

~ Boil all ingredients, then simmer for at least one hour, the longer the better.

~ Skim for impurities. Even better is you can let it sit overnight and skim for fat.

~ Prepare rice noodles.

~ Use whatever meat you'd like: sliced sirloin, pork tenderloin, . . . whatever.

~ If you make this the day before, you can refrigerate and skim the fat off the top.

~ Place noodles in bowl, then meat and garnish: bean sprouts, cilantro, serrano peppers, red chiles... ladle broth over all and sprinkle with red pepper flakes.

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