4th February 2024

Today we cooked for the first time from Vietnamese Made Easy by Thuy Diem Pham.  We made the beef and oxtail stew which was a stunning dish.  It was absolutely everything we loved about Sunday cooking.  It is utterly delicious, thick and rich and unctuous and so tasty with a really lovely spicy kick, and yet, because of the herbs and beansprouts, it felt very fresh.  This is definitely a keeper and a recipe to return to time after time. 

The stew had hours of cooking, the house was filled with the most wonderful smells.  So good in fact that Matt emerged every half an hour or so to declare that surely it must be ready now as it smelt ready.  Anything that makes him emerge from his bedroom must be good.

This was so delicious you can't help but go back for another helping (sorry hips) and the Matt licked the bowl clean despite my protests.  A fabulous fabulous dish which was perfect for a slow Sunday.