The Over 30 Girly's Edit

Spring has sprung, even though the weather in Seattle this weekend still screams winter gloom. It’s what we get in Washington.

It hasn’t been that miserable, though, because last week we did have beautiful spring days. It was sunny, warm, and pretty. Seattle on a sunny day is arguably the loveliest place on the planet. Pretty flowers aren’t bad additions, either.

One thing about me: I will be sitting out in the sun if there is sunshine and warm temperatures. Grab a lounge chair, and either a laptop to work on or a good book to read, and then I will be good.

Speaking of Spring, I have been cooking this amazing Vietnamese macaroni soup more than twice in the past two months. I grew up eating this homemade soup by my Mom so often that I honestly forgot about it—does anyone else feel the same way? I watched an episode of “No Taste Like Home With Antoni Porowski,” in which Antoni and Justin Theroux went to Italy and had this delicious-looking Tortellini in Brodo dish. Pasta in a broth is something I have never seen made anywhere in America. But I did have a Vietnamese version of it when I was growing up, and I didn’t remember it all. Immediately, I texted my Mom, who lives 7,404 miles away, to ask for the recipe. Needless to say, I was happy that I did. The one problem is that, just as with any mom’s recipes, the specific ingredients or seasoning measurements are relative. “Just a little bit of this, and a little of that.” You know?

The ingredients are simple: pork loin, ground pork, carrots, an apple, cabbage (or any veggies that you want to cook in a broth), macaroni or any pasta noodle (not spaghetti), salt, pepper, fish sauce, and vegetable oil. Compared to other Vietnamese noodle soup dishes, this one is pleasantly easier and takes much less time to make.

To start, fill a pot with water to cover the pork loin completely. Cook it until it is cooked (~135°F internally). Remove the pork and let it rest. In the same pot, add carrots, apple, and cabbage to the broth and cook until the veggies are soft and tender. Add more water to the pot as needed. At the same time, heat a pan with oil and cook the ground pork, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Once the veggie is tender, transfer the cooked ground pork (drained of excess fat) to the pot, stir, and season with fish sauce to taste. I usually start with 1.5 tablespoons of fish sauce and add more or use salt if desired.

I don’t need to drain the fat from the broth as the pork loin is lean enough, and the ground pork I use typically has less fat, so this step depends on the fat content of the meat. One tip from my Mom is to use the apple – she says it will make the broth sweeter, and I think I cannot not use an apple in a broth anymore. 

Cook the macaroni (or any noodles, to be honest). To make a bowl, add noodles, slices of pork (from the pork loin), and the broth, carrots, cabbage, and ground pork as much as your heart and soul desires. To garnish: add spring onions and ground pepper to taste. I’ve been dealing with severe acid reflux (over 30 years old, am I right?), so I have to opt out of spring onions for now.

I’ve made this a few times, some without cabbage and some without the ground pork, and I have to say you can never go wrong with any options you want to add or remove. The savoriness from the pork (but light) broth and the chewy noodles work really well together. I dare say it’s a lighter noodle soup version of Pho, while it’s definitely less labor-intensive. The entire process takes me about 2 hours and is well worth it.

That’s all for today. Writing this makes me want to run to a grocery store to grab the ingredients so I can make another bowl or two. This dish is as warm as my plush blanket, which is still needed for this cold and rainy Easter Sunday weather. And it’s a childhood memory that I will never forget. Thank you, Mom.

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Also, I am moving over to Substack and if you’re in there, please give me a follow here! Thank you in advance.

Cheers!