Beef Pho

The last couple of weeks have been a little bit of a doozy. After having the flu last week, I haven’t really recovered fully and now have completely lost my voice. For my job I literally am on the phone with people all day long, so this has been quite the pickle as you can imagine. I have mustered and made it through every-day, but yesterday I decided to finally throw in the towel and head to the doctor. I spent the rest of my day glued to the couch watching Harry Potter… ALL of the HP movies are on HBOGO right now BTW. I thought Thomas would be working the whole day, but then that little rascal walked in the door and made my day so much better. And I made him watch HP with me obviously – He’s such a good sport!

It felt good to rest my voice for a bit, and to help it even more I made this bone broth beef pho using Bonafide Provisions Organic Beef Bone Broth. This was my first time trying bone broth! What do you guys think of it? I’ve been hearing forever about how beneficial it is and I’ve seen so many “broth bars” pop-up around town – so it’s about time that I gave it a try! I jazzed mine up a bit for this recipe, but even by itself it’s delicious. Plus do you know about all the benefits? I had no idea! It’s amazing for gut health, makes your skin glow, helps you sleep better, supports bone strength and a healthy immune system! Sign me up!

Pho is one of my go-to comfort foods lately. I love slurping up the noodles in the rich broth, and mixing in all of my favorite crunchy things like bean sprouts, jalapeño’s, and fresh basil. The pho I made yesterday isn’t traditional, but it’s a quicker alternative and hits the spot! I hope everyone is feeling good and hasn’t caught this nasty flu! FYI, something else that’s really helped me is fresh ginger and lemon tea. We’ve been drinking it every night!

Beef Pho

Ingredients
– 12 oz beef eye of round (cheap cut of meat is fine since you’re going to thinly slice it) 
– 1 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
– 4 garlic cloves, minced
– 2 star anise pods
– 5 whole cloves
– 1 cinnamon stick
– 8 cups of beef bone broth or beef stock (I used a mix of both) 
– 1 teaspoon asian fish sauce
– kosher salt, to taste
– 4 oz dried rice noodles
– 4 oz mushrooms, such as shiitake, oyster, or cremini
– 3 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
– 1 head of boy choy, cut and washed

Optional toppings: 
– sliced jalapeño’s
– green onion tops
– fresh basil
– red pepper flakes 

What to do

1. Place beef in freezer to make it easier to thinly slice. 
2. Meanwhile, heat a large pot over medium-high; add ginger, garlic, star anise, cinnamon, and cloves. Toast the spices tossing them constantly, until lightly browned and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Immediately add broth, cover, and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cook, partially covered, for 20 minutes. Use a slotted spoon, remove and discard the star anise, cloves, and cinnamon stick. Add fish sauce to broth and taste; season with a little salt and an additional 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce, if desired. 
3. Add noodles to a medium pot of boiling water; cook according to package directions. Drain noodles and divide among bowls. Remove beef from freezer and slice as thinly as possible.
4. Heat a skillet over medium heat with a little olive oil. Once heated, toss in your mushrooms and cook until browned. Sprinkle with salt and pepper at the end and place on a plate. Reheat the skillet with a little olive oil and throw in the sliced carrots. Once they’ve sautéed for a couple of minutes, toss in your bok choy. Add in another minced garlic clove if desired and season with salt and pepper. Let the bok choy cook for a few minutes until it’s slightly wilted. 
5. Remove the veggies and turn the skillet on medium high heat. Add a little more oil and once hot, add in the thinly sliced beef and sear. It’s going to continue to cook in the broth, so you only need to sear it a minute or 2. Season with salt and pepper and any other spices you like. I added dried ginger and garlic powder! 
6. Ladle broth into your bowls on top of the noodles and add the beef, bok choy, carrots, mushrooms, and other desired toppings! 

Enjoy!