Last night I made Plated’s Vietnamese Beef Pho with Thai Basil.  It was the first meal I made from Plated that I just didn’t like.  I didn’t think that the meal was nearly flavorful enough, and despite following directions, the rice noodles were too chewy and bland.  The recipe said it would take 30-40 minutes, and it took me 31.  I did marinate the meat for 30 minutes, so I sliced that and put it in a bowl with the Thai chili paste and sugar prior to starting the timer.

Not too much chopping in this one, just what you can see on the cutting board.  Thai basil, peanuts, lime, and big pieces of shallots and ginger.  I actually sliced the ginger too small, it was harder to strain out later, but it still was good.  The oddest part about this recipe for me was cooking noodles in a bowl.

The recipe called for the noodles to be put in a bowl, then boiling water poured over them.  Honestly, I think this is why I didn’t like the noodle texture, it just didn’t taste like they were done enough.  Also, I didn’t like that the broth was poured over them at the end.  I think that they would have tasted a lot better if they had been cooked in the broth, or at least been able to soak up the yummy flavors.

Here’s the finished plate, it looks pretty, but it’s the first meal that my husband didn’t finish.  He had a couple bites, then just ate the meat out of it.  I finished mine, but as I said, thought it was really lacking.  If I ever made this again, I would cook the noodles in the broth.  I think that would make a HUGE difference in flavor.  I also wasn’t a big fan of the star anise in the pho, but that’s more of a personal dislike of licorice.  If you are interested in Plated, please use my referral code so we both get free meals!! https://www.plated.com/invites/0363c7