Leftover Corned Beef Mac and Cheese

This Corned Beef Mac and Cheese with stout Irish cheddar and a touch of mustard is a  great way to use up leftover corned beef from St. Patrick’s day.

Usually at this time of year, I am scurrying around the house, spring cleaning and preparing for Norouz and the first day of Spring. This year, I am nowhere near ready for the Persian New Year and I am procrastinating the spring cleaning for NEXT week!

I broke out the corned beef early this year, since St. Patrick’s Day falls way too close to Norouz and the two meals don’t match up at all. I have already shared the only way that I prepare a corned beef brisket – I always prepare a baked corned beef.

The real question is what do you do with the imminent leftover corned beef?

Why this recipe is so awesome 

And then post St. Patrick’s Day, you find yourself with a bit of leftover corned beef. Oh what to do with it?!! The hubby loves his corned beef hash and eggs – I make a mean leftover pulled pork hash, feel free to substitute the pulled pork with corned beef.

But after awhile, this gets old. So this year I used the leftover corned beef to make my oldest son, the Absent-Minded Professor happy. He is a huge mac and cheese fan, from the basic boxed to variety to going gourmet.

He happily took his corned beef mac and cheese to school in his thermos and shared with me that all of his friends were terribly jealous about his scrumptious lunch.

Scrumptious, that’s my word not his.

And if you need more recipes using leftovers, you can always make this little appetizer/snack, corned beef bruschetta, or my personal favorite way to enjoy leftover corned beef, corned beef and cabbage quinoa salad.

Ingredients you need

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• Macaroni: You can use classic elbow macaroni or shells, rotini… any of your favorite pasta.
• Cooked corned beef: I like to use the leftovers from my baked corned beef dinner.
• Peas: I like to add a bit of green vegetables in my mac and cheese to sneak in some vegetable goodness. My son loves peas, but you can use broccoli or any of your favorite vegetables too like corn, red bell peppers or green onions.
• Cheddar cheese: Choose a cheese that is hearty in flavor, like a bold Irish cheddar. Flavored cheddars like Irish Whiskey or Horseradish are great choices, too!
• Whole grain dijon mustard: You can totally use a regular mustard but a seedy whole grain mustard is very delicious!
• Butter
• Milk
• Pantry staples: salt, all purpose flour

Tools to Use

• Chef’s Knife
• Cutting board
• Mixing bowls

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Step-by-step directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil and add salt. When water is at a rolling boil, add macaroni. Cook until al dente, about 10 minutes.
2. Right before pasta is done, add peas. Drain peas and pasta in a colander and reserve.
3. Return pot to the stove and over medium heat add butter. When butter is melted, stir in flour.
4. Continue stirring and cooking for 1 minute and slowly whisk in milk.
5. When milk is completely incorporated with the butter mixture, continue whisking until sauce thickens, about 7 minutes.
6. Stir in cheese and mustard.
7. Remove from heat when cheese is completely melted into the cream sauce.
8. Stir in reserved macaroni and corned beef.
9. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately.

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Yield: serves 4

Leftover Corned Beef Mac and Cheese

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This Corned Beef Mac and Cheese with stout Irish cheddar and a touch of mustard is a  great way to use up leftover corned beef from St. Patrick's day.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ lb macaroni
• ¾ cup peas
• 1 TBS unsalted butter
• 1 TBS all purpose flour
• 2 cup milk
• 1 ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 TBS whole grain dijon mustard
• 2 cup coarsely chopped cooked corned beef

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil and add salt. When water is at a rolling boil, add macaroni.
2. Cook until al dente, about 10 minutes. Right before pasta is done, add peas.
3. Drain peas and pasta in a colander and reserve.
4. Return pot to the stove and over medium heat add butter.
5. When butter is melted, stir in flour.
6. Continue stirring and cooking for 1 minute and slowly whisk in milk.
7. When milk is completely incorporated with the butter mixture, continue whisking until sauce thickens, about 7 minutes.
8. Stir in cheese and mustard.
9. Remove from heat when cheese is completely melted into the cream sauce.
10. Stir in reserved macaroni and corned beef.
11. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately.

Notes

Serving Suggestions: Kerrygold Aged Cheddar with Irish Whiskey was used for the above pictured recipe. You can add more cheese, an additional ¼ cup, if you are using a less sharply flavored cheddar.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 668Total Fat: 42gSaturated Fat: 19gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 170mgSodium: 2128mgCarbohydrates: 32gFiber: 3gSugar: 2gProtein: 40g

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Disclaimer: KerryGold USA provided me free products to sample. I was not paid to write this post. The opinions expressed in this post are mine. If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t blog about it!