Are you a fan of pho? If you've never had it, pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup. It consists of a mountain of slurp-worthy rice noodles mingling in an umami-rich soup with meat, such as chicken or beef, or tofu and vegetables. The bonus is the garnishes -- a garden basket of leafy herbs, chiles and sprouts to scatter over the top, with squirts of lime, hot sauce and hoisin for good measure.

Pho is intoxicatingly aromatic, and a perfect remedy to fight a cold or simply satisfy a craving for Asian spice and heat. Once you taste it, you'll be hooked.

The key to an authentic pho lies in its broth, an involved affair best left to the weekend, when you have time to fill your home with the slow-cooking aromas of simmering chicken or beef, while the stock reduces to a flavorful, soul-satisfying intensity.

The challenge, though (as cravings go), is that sometimes you just want pho NOW, when it's not the weekend, when you've just arrived home, when it's an hour before dinner, only leftovers are in the fridge and the nearest Vietnamese takeout is in the next county.

Here is a solution: It's an inauthentic version I call fast pho -- or, better yet, faux pho. Instead of making the stock from scratch, I use a good-quality store-bought stock, embellish it with aromatics, and add leftover cooked chicken or rotisserie chicken from the market. It's done in an hour and is a perfect quick fix for a crave-satiating weeknight dinner.

Easy Pho -- Vietnamese Chicken Rice Noodle Soup

Note: This recipe is especially easy to make when you have leftover chicken in the fridge; otherwise, you can pick up a rotisserie chicken from the store or quickly poach a couple of chicken breasts.

Active time: 20 minutes

Total time: 50 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped

1 (2-inch) knob of fresh ginger, coarsely chopped

6 cloves

2 star anise

1 (2-inch) stick cinnamon

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

6 cups chicken stock

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

8 ounces vermicelli rice noodles

1 pound cooked chicken meat, shredded

4 scallions, white and green parts thinly sliced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Garnishes:

Sliced red or green jalapeno chiles

Mung bean sprouts

Fresh mint or Thai basil sprigs

Lime wedges

Sriracha or Hoisin sauce

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or deep skillet over medium. Add the onions and ginger; saute until fragrant and the onions begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the cloves, star anise, cinnamon stick, coriander seeds and peppercorns; saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the stock, fish sauce, sugar and salt, and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, cook and drain the noodles according to the package directions.

Strain the soup through a fine mesh strainer into a clean pot. Add the chicken to the soup and simmer over medium-low until heated through, 3 to 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add more fish sauce, sugar or salt if needed.

Divide the noodles between large serving bowls. Sprinkle an even amount of scallions and cilantro over the noodles. Ladle the soup into the bowls. Serve with the garnishes.

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'Tis the season for lemons. Late winter offers up bushels of citrus, which transform into light and lovely desserts like these lemon bars. Whether you are knee-deep in snow or lucky enough to live where lemons grow on trees, these lemon bars will bring a ray of sunshine to your plate.

The key to a good lemon bar, in my book, is the filling. It must be intensely lemony, packing a wallop of tartness with just enough sugar, but not so sweet that it's cloying. Picture a zingy, sweet and tart filling rippled with lemon zest, anchored to a buttery shortbread crust. The final touch is a smidge of sea salt, which keeps the sweetness in check and allows the puckery lemon to shine through. These bars are thoroughly addictive and guaranteed to brighten your day. One bar will never be enough.

Lemon Bars With Sea Salt

Active time: 15 minutes

Total time: 1 hour

Yield: makes 32 (2-inch) square bars

Shortbread:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened but still cool, cut into cubes

Filling:

4 large eggs

1 1/4 cups sugar

2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Garnish:

Confectioners' sugar

Sea salt flakes, such as Maldon (or plain sea salt)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan, then line the pan with parchment and butter the parchment.

Combine the shortbread ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix until the dough resembles coarse lumps and just begins to come together. Dump the dough into the prepared pan and, with your fingers, evenly press the dough to cover the bottom of the pan.

Bake the crust until it just begins to turn golden, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven; do not turn off the oven.

Whisk the filling ingredients together in a large bowl until blended, then evenly pour over the crust. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the filling is set but not coloring, about 25 minutes. Remove and cool completely on a rack.

Cut into bars. Dust with confectioners' sugar and lightly sprinkle with sea salt flakes before serving.

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There were three forlorn parsnips in my refrigerator yesterday, wedged behind a bulbous celery root, buried beneath a floppy pillow of lettuce. Somehow, these lonely roots escaped the chicken dinner I'd made earlier in the week, when I scattered onions, carrots and potatoes around a chicken while it roasted. It was all for the best.

Yesterday was an indisputable soup day -- rainy, cold and blustery. When I surveyed my refrigerator for dinner inspiration and discovered the forgotten roots, I instantly knew what to make: a creamy vegetable soup. Now, before you begin to consider any caloric implications, realize that when I say "creamy," there is, in fact, no cream in this soup. The method is to simmer the vegetables in chicken stock until they are tamed and transformed to baby food softness and then puree and whisk with milk. The resulting velvety smooth and rich soup will seem like it's laden with cream, when in fact it is not. Now that's what I call kitchen magic.

If you haven't tried celery root (also known as celeriac), it's high time you did. Don't let its gnarly exterior dissuade you -- its inner flesh is nutty and mildly fragrant with celery. Once cooked, its flavor is mellow and sublime, which provides a soothing balance to the sweet and earthy parsnip. Thyme and garlic round out the flavors of this slurp-worthy bowl of soup, which will be sure to keep you warm and comforted in the cold weather.

Parsnip and Celery Root Soup

Active time: 15 minutes

Total time: 45 minutes

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)

1 pound parsnips, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1 pound celery root, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

4 cups chicken stock

2 sprigs thyme

1/2 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of ground nutmeg

Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium. Add the onion and saute until translucent without coloring, about 3 minutes. Add the parsnips, celery root and garlic and saute until the vegetables begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and thyme and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low; cover the pot and simmer until the vegetables are very soft, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove and discard the thyme sprigs.

Carefully transfer the soup to a food processor (or use an immersion blender) and puree until smooth. Return the soup to the pot and stir in the milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg. If the soup is too thick, add more milk to your desired consistency and taste for seasoning. Gently heat over medium-low until warm. Serve immediately.

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