Easy Pho Recipe (with leftover roast goose)

I think that the best part of the roast goose I posted last week was the easy Vietnamese soup I made with the leftovers.  A subtle mix of sweet, sour, salty, savory and spicy make the soup broth irresistible.  The soup not only used up leftover goose, it also allowed me to use the vegetables that were starting to wrinkle up in my fridge.  I wouldn’t want to use them in salads or eat them fresh, but they were perfect for soup!

All the Asian ingredients for the pho (fish sauce, hoisin sauce, sriracha) can easily be found an Asian grocery store for a LOT cheaper than in a regular grocery store.  If you don’t have one near you, try checking Amazon to see how the prices compare to your regular grocer.

Sometimes Asian grocery stores can be a little overwhelming.  Not all the items have English names or instructions.  For the noodles, I like the wider ones like in the package above.  They didn’t have any instructions on them, so I just boiled them in a pot of water, testing them periodically until they were cooked to the degree I liked, with a slight bite to finish softening in the pho broth.

When I make soup, I find it usually has more flavor if I saute the vegetables before putting them in broth to get some caramelization.  Usually I saute them in some oil or butter, but for this I just put the leftover goose meat and vegetables in the pot together.  The goose meat still had some fat on it which was plenty to cook the vegetables a bit.

The recipe list may look long, but that’s because there are a lot of spices in it to get a really flavorful broth.  I get my spices in the bulk spice section at my local grocery store, it’s SO much cheaper!

Since the key to great Pho is a great broth, I make mine using my own homemade turkey stock or homemade vegetable stock.  You can use store bought stock but taste it before adding the fish sauce.  If it’s pretty salty you won’t need as much as the recipe calls for.

In Vietnamese restaurants you’ll get Pho served with several condiments including hoisin sauce, sriracha, lime wedges, bean sprouts, jalapeño slices, and Thai basil.  I’ve got some Thai basil seeds planted, so eventually will have my own fresh basil, and I just can’t buy it in the store, even though I love the flavor.

To keep things simple and affordable, I serve my Pho with whatever I happen to have on hand.  This time it was lime, sriracha and hoisin sauce.  I also julienned some carrots for people to add to give a little crunch instead of bean sprouts.

You can use this recipe with almost any leftover meat like chicken, beef or turkey.  Since they’re not as fatty as the goose, use a little oil to saute the vegetables and then add meat just before adding the broth.  You can also skip the meat altogether and use vegetables stock instead of chicken to make this vegetarian.