It’s been a fabulous October so far: super sunny days, crisp air, blue skies, and rainbow leaves falling everywhere. But, like all good things, perfect weather can’t last forever and we’ve been getting more and more rain. I love rain (especially when I’m inside) and when it’s raining, it’s like the world is begging me to make a big pot of soup. It’s the perfect excuse to stay in, cozy up with a book and smell the soup simmering.
Pho is my go-to soup to make. When I’m feeling particularly industrious, I’ll pull out my biggest pot, make a huge batch and freeze the stock in individually sized portions. That way, when the pho-craving hits (as it does so very often), I just need to head out and buy myself some noodles, meat, and herbs. This time though, I decided to play around a little bit and make some zucchini noodles.
I’m a big zucchini fan so it wasn’t much of a stretch for me to imagine what zucchini noodles would taste like in pho broth, but Mike wasn’t totally convinced. Nonetheless, I whipped out my vegetable noodle making machine and went to town. A light blanch in some hot water and the zucchini noodles were a perfect stand in for rice noodles. Just make sure you’re barely blanching when cooking the noodles so that your zucchini still has lots of bite. You basically want them to be barely kissed by the hot water. They’ll soften up a bit in the pho broth, so don’t worry about them being too al dente.
This was one of those experiments that went really well. Even Mike ended up liking the zucchini noodles! We had a whole discussion on which would be cheaper, rice noodles or zucchini. I was team rice noodles, but he thought zucchini would be cheaper. It was too bad that I didn’t have the foresight to buy more zucchini because when we finished our bowls, we were both still craving move. Lesson learned: when making zoodles, stock up on the zucchini!
Chicken Pho Recipe
serves 4Chicken Pho
- 2 whole chicken legs (drumstick and thigh)
- 2.5 quarts of water
- 1 onion, halved
- 1 3-4 inch chunk of ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
- 2 whole star anise
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce, or to taste
- 1 cinnamon stick
To serve
- 1 small zucchini per person for zoodles* or pho noodles
- sliced green onions
- roughly chopped cilantro
- bean sprouts
- Thai chilis
- sliced limes
- hoisin sauce
- sriracha
Toast your ginger and onions in a toaster oven or oven on broil until the onions are sweaty and everything is nicely charred. Peel the ginger and onions and set aside until you’re ready to start your broth.
Toast the coriander seeds, cloves, and star anise in a dry pan on low heat until they are aromatic, about 2-3 minutes. Tie the spices up in cheesecloth for easy removal from your soup.
Fill a pot with about 2.5 quarts of water and add the chicken legs, ginger, onions, cinnamon stick, and spice packet. Bring to a boil and lower to a very gentle simmer. After one hour, remove the chicken legs, let cook and shred the meat off the bones. Place the bones back into the broth. Set the chicken aside in the fridge. Continue simmering the broth with the bones and skin. Simmer for as long as you can; reducing it will intensify the flavor, minimum 2 hours. After 2- plus hours, strain the stock and discard the solids. Skim the stock if needed. Keep the stock hot over medium-low heat and season with fish sauce and sugar. Add the sugar and fish sauce in increments until you’re happy with the flavor. Bring the stock to a roiling boil.
If using zoodles, blanch briefly in boiling water. If using pho noodles, prepare your noodles according to the package and strain. Place zoodles/noodles in a large bowl. Add a generous amount of chicken (the stock should heat the meat up enough, if you want it piping hot, dip it into hot water to heat), top with broth, and garnishes. Enjoy!
Notes: If you need some zoodle making tips, check out Ali’s site! I made my noodles using the Paderno Spiral Vegetable Slicer.
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