Lucky Pasta

This weekend was all about green things and Irish fun. I hope you all had a fun St. Patrick’s Day weekend! We had a good time with good food and good people adorned with green. Had some left over corned beef and cabbage and some cute four-leaf clover shaped pasta I found at World Market so I made a dish out of it:  lucky pasta.

I was setting up the table and set the bowl of pasta aside next to a sleeping dog who woke up to the scent of the pasta. That’s Bella, my sister’s dog, a Dorgi (half Welsh corgi and half dachshund).

She’s a cute dog who is very smart. She knows not to eat something that she isn’t supposed to. Isn’t she so cute? I try to take pictures of her, but she moves very fast. Bella keeps everyone entertained. Don’t give her a soft toy though, she will destroy it. A harder toy like a small tire will take a little longer for her to tear apart. 🙂

This is the pasta that I used. I couldn’t resist buying it when I saw it.

I used a small cabbage from my dad’s garden. It is the size of my iPhone. A cute cabbage.

I sautéed the shredded cabbage in browned butter, but you can use leftover cabbage as well.

Irish cheddar is so good. While I was grating the cheese, my dad said it tastes better than other cheddars. You could use another type cheddar, but its fitting for this dish. I also used 3 ounces of mozzarella, and 6 ounces of sharp cheddar for a total of 1 lbs. of cheese, grated of course.

For the sauce, I used an Irish cheddar & stout fondue recipe from Chow.com, but added a bit of milk to thin it out. Because of the stout, it looks like the color of a brown gravy. The stout can be a bit assertive, so I think I would use Smithwick’s next time or use less stout and replace it with some milk. I like using fondue sauce sometimes with pasta as the fat doesn’t separate from the sauce with the fondue technique. By mixing the grated cheese with a little corn starch or flour to coat the cheese, fat separation is somehow prevented.

serves ~4

Ingredients

• Corned beef, sliced and cut into bite sized pieces
• Cabbage, cooked and shredded
• 1 lb. Lucky pasta (or any other pasta will do)

Irish Cheddar Sauce

(minimally adapted from Chow.com)

• 1 pound Irish cheddar or a mix of Irish cheese and other cheeses, grated
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• pinch of black pepper
• 1 tablespoon coarse-grain mustard
• 1 1/4 cups Irish stout (such as Guinness or Murphy’s)
• 1/2-1 cup milk

1. Mix the cheese and the corn starch together and set aside. Melt the butter in a large pot on medium heat and sauté the onion for about 10 minutes until soft and golden brown in color.
2. While you are starting the sauce, prepare the pasta according to package directions.
3. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the salt, pepper, mustard, stout, and 1/2 cup milk. Bring to a boil and decrease the heat to medium-low and add the cheese in 3 batches, stirring well after each batch. Add the remaining milk to thin out the sauce if desired. Mix everything well until the cheese is melted and combined. Turn off the heat.
4. Add the pasta to the cheese sauce and mix well. Mix in the corned beef and cabbage. Eat with brown sauce if desired and enjoy!

I don’t know if this pasta is actually lucky, but it is definitely tasty!

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• Not Your Nana’s Corned Beef and Cabbage (brasspaperclip.typepad.com)
• CHEESE OF THE WEEK: Dubliner and Dubliner with Stout (courierpress.com)
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