Vietnamese Braised Beef and Ice Cream Spring Rolls

It's been a wonderful food weekend. Sometimes, you bookmark a recipe that you just have to make as soon as possible. It happened twice this week! This is so rare that you'd think I'd win the lottery or something (which by the way, Lotto Max is still at a grand prize of 50 million with fifty 1 million prizes - come on ticket, just a measly million please).

The first one is from Steph's blog, i am a food blog, with her Vietnamese Braised Beef Taco post. If you know me, you know that I love tacos. Any given night if you ask me what I want to eat, it'll most likely be tacos (or sushi). So I went out and bought the 2 1/2 pounds of boneless chuck roast. Do you ever feel grown up going to the butcher? I do. I feel so much more like a cook when I get to unwrap the butcher paper and cut off the tied string. Or maybe I just like unwrapping presents.

Total aside and speaking of feeling like a grown up, I finally bought a new work bag. I've been alternating between my high school backpack and my weekend camera bag for my commute. But Howard finally said, enough is enough, and forced me to look professional. Thanks for looking out for me? Hahaha, it's a colour-blocked tote bag in light and dark camel. The best part is, the base is wide enough to fit my lunch box, which was my main criteria.

In other grown up news (geez, I'm all about growing up today), my maid of honour bought me an early wedding present last month and I used it for the first time today. Oh beautiful round cocotte, how I adore thee! I think I might like it more than my cast iron skillet, less oil splatter as I brown the meat.

So where are the tacos? Well, I did buy the tortillas, but at the last minute, I boiled some noodles to go with the Vietnamese braised beef. This way, I didn't waste any of that delicious juicy stew, the noodles soaked it all up and then it went in my belly. I hope you get a chance to try the recipe. It was quick and easy, just make sure you start in the afternoon and then let it braise until dinner time. You brown the meat, cook the onion, shallots, garlic, carrots, and tomatoes. Add the beef stock and then throw in more aromatics like star anise, cinnamon, five spice, bay leaves, and fish sauce. Then pop it in the oven for the flavour magic to happen.

Even though I took all the ingredients out, I forgot the brown sugar. It was sitting on the counter top and I was too lazy to take the cocotte out of the oven. But guess what? It came out tasty so I won't know what I'm really missing.

The second one is from Lady and Pups who posted Ice Cream-Spring Rolls with Ground Peanut Brittle. I've had this twice this weekend. Mainly because I have so much ground peanut brittle left over (am I not sprinkling enough on my ice cream?!?) and because it's freaking delicious. The crepes are so easy to make, it's only three ingredients! We have an assortment of green tea, mango, and red bean ice cream in the freezer - aren't those everyone's staples? Then we bought an assortment of mochi - green tea, strawberry, vanilla, and red bean.

The photo above is red bean everything - ice cream and mochi. Did you know that peanut brittle can be used for anything? Put it on fruit or try sprinkling it on savoury food. It should be the new condiment, sold with ketchup and mustard.

Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.
Peanut brittle.

You know that scene in Chef where he makes ground brittle and splashes it over the dessert? I now appreciate the beauty of that scene even more.

Vietnamese Beef Pho

You guys! I made pho tonight!!! Well, about 80% of it since I didn't make my own beef stock. But still, it's been on my list of things to try and I can now proudly say I did it. I recently got The Kitchn Cookbook and The Slanted Door and I've been tagging a lot of the Vietnamese food recipes. I feel that I should learn some of the basics since my dad is from there and recently came back from a trip to Vietnam. Also, it might end up saving me some cash because I love going out for pho!

This recipe is adapted from The Kitchn a bit. Mostly made changes in the toppings and garnish since I really wanted to focus on the broth.

Vietnamese Beef Pho Broth
Makes enough to serve 4

2 large onions, peeled
4-inch piece of ginger, peeled
2 three-inch cinnamon sticks
2 pieces of whole star anise
3 whole cloves
2 teaspoons of coriander seeds
1800 milliliters of low-sodium beef broth
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
3 carrots, peeled and chopped

Peel and quarter the onions and ginger. Set on baking tray and broil for about five minute, flip and broil again for another five minutes. We just want a slight char, so if you have an open flame, that works too (use tongs to hold onions and ginger).

Put the cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves, and coriander seeds in a large pot over medium-low heat. Dry-roast it a bit and stir to keep them from burning. When the spices are aromatic, add in the beef broth, soy sauce, fish sauce, carrots, charred onions, and charred ginger. Bring the broth to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover with lid, and let it simmer for 30 minutes.

After, take out another pot, place a strainer or sieve over it to separate the ingredients. Keep the broth hot in this second pot until ready to serve.

I prepared some scallions, cilantro, limes, and quickly cooked the bean sprouts in boiling water. I'm not going to specify quantities here, it's up to you! I always need limes with my pho, so I get 3/4 of the wedges while Howard uses 1. He'd probably not use it but I'm trying to convert him into adding lime juice to the broth. I feel that it tastes so much better with that sour note.

I didn't want to buy a whole pack of Thai basil, but that's generally something I add to my pho as well. As for the boiled bean sprouts, that's something my parents do and we ask restaurants to do it as well when we eat out. I think it has something to do with their preference of cleaning the bean sprouts in a quick flash of hot water.

For the meat topping, we purchased rib-eye beef that's intended for hot pot, but works beautifully here as well. After you cook the flat rice noodle (vermicelli), place the thinly sliced beef on top. Don't worry that it's still raw. If you kept the broth hot enough, it'll be cooked in no time!

See? Pour the broth over to cook the meat and this will also keep the noodles from sticking together. Garnish to your taste. You can see my bowl on the right already has two squeezed lime wedges in it. If you need some spice, add chili or Sriracha.

Verdict? The broth wasn't like the restaurant versions - we're guessing they use their own beef stock and cook that broth for hours. We found that this smelled great and wasn't greasy at all. But if you like it clean and not salty, this is the one for you. In fact, it wasn't salty enough, so we might throw in a pinch next time. We usually feel incredibly thirsty after eating pho out, but this one caused no such desires. But Howard did wish that there was a mango smoothie to end the meal with. Hmph!

Momofuku Noodle Bar

We almost missed it.

We almost couldn't find it!

We actually had an outdated map (in our defense, we thought it was up-to-date) on this trip. Some of the stores and shops listed were no longer in business or had moved just a couple of blocks down. So, we found the spot were our map said Momofuku would be and after looking up and down the street, we decided to ask a taxi driver.

Howard: Hi, do you know where Momofuku is?
Taxi Driver: What?
Howard: Momofuku.
Taxi Drive: Momo...?
Howard: Momofuku
Taxi Driver: What's that?
Howard: A restaurant...
Taxi Driver: No, sorry.

I was in the middle of searching for free wifi with my iPod, when we were saved! A very nice pair were just turning the corner and overheard Howard's conversation with the Taxi Driver. They told us that they were actually on their way to Momofuku and we were welcomed to follow them.

Yes, please!

We thanked them and scurried after the quick walking pair. The guy was from California visiting the girl. She was currently living in New York, but was originally from the same part of Toronto as us! Unbelievable!

Here, we made it:

Momofuku Noodle Bar
171 First Avenue
New York City, NY 10003
(212) 777-7773

We parted ways with the friendly pair in Momofuku as they were actually seated at the bar (lucky). We squeezed in to share a table in the middle of the restaurant with another group who were already enjoying their appetizers.

The lunch menu for August 17, 2010. They have prix fixe meals, very tempting (chocolate chip cake truffles!), but a bit out of our lunch budget for 3 people...

The customer service there was really good. They understood that they had lots of customers and did their best to be quick, clever, and courteous.

At first, all three of us wanted the Momofuku Ramen, but I persuaded the guys that we should try all three noodles on the menu. Dispite their whining, my brother listened and ordered the Ginger Scallion Noodles that had pickled shiitakes, cucumber, and menma.

It was really good! Something that I would order again because it was perfect for a hot summer day. The combination of the ingredients made the noodles taste very fresh and spring-like.

In the end my brother prefered his noodles over mine! See? It all worked out to everyone's favour!

Howard can handle the heat. So he got the Chilled Spicy Noodles that contained Sichuan spiced sausage, spinach, and cashews.

I tried one small strand of noodle and it was spicy!! But so good. So I only recommend it if you can handle it. Our very clever waitress came by many times to refill our glasses of water. =)

Again, in the end, Howard preferred his order to mine!

Finally, the Momofuku Ramen with pork belly, pork shoulder, and a poached egg. Picture perfect of what I expect when I think ramen.

Howard wanted to go back for the rest of the week. Ever since we've been home, he's whined for Momofuku at least 5 times this week. You know Howard, we do have the cookbook if you want to try your hand at making it yourself. =P