Corned Beef Linguine with Lemon and Brussels Sprouts

This is for the lemon lover, and for somebody who likes to find interesting ways of having their brussels sprouts.  Why not?  They’re oven-roasted, drizzled with olive oil; caramelized before tossing into pasta.

Slice 1 pound brussels sprouts in halves before roasting.  Drizzle olive oil and add salt and pepper.  Shift them around in the pan to coat all sides, then shift them again halfway through browning in a 400º oven.

In slices, cut 2 or 3 lemons; drizzle with olive oil, then pepper.  Brown them, turning them halfway, cooking tender.  When they have cooled from the oven, cut each slice into fourths.  Refrigerate the brussels sprouts and the lemons while preparing the meat.  

Sear a corned beef brisket on both sides seasoned with black pepper, bourbon smoked sugar or turbinado sugar, smoked paprika, and mustard seeds.  Place in a roasting pan with hardly any water in the bottom since the juices from the meat will fill the pan considerably.  Leave the fat on, fat-side up to ensure a moist meat.  Remove the fat after it’s cooked.  Cover and cook in the oven at 200º for several hours.  Check the liquid in the pan to make sure that it’s kept low, because corned beef seems to toughen when it’s soak-cooked in liquid even when it’s slow-cooked.  Allow to rest when out of the oven before shredding with a fork.

[For the cheese mixture for the pasta, here’s a good jalapeno pepper sauce that is made solely for dishes and meats rather than having on toast for jelly:  Jaloween Pepper Jelly Sauce.  I canned this up at Halloween, making more than my share so I could have extra to cook with.  If you don’t want to put this in, that’s fine, too. ]

Prepare a large pot of salted water for linguine noodles, bringing it to a boil.  Cook until it’s al dente.  Drain, cover, and keep warm.  

To a heavy large sauce pan or Dutch oven, combine 1 1/4 cups of the strained meat broth, 1/2 stick unsalted butter, and 1/2 cup Jaloween Pepper Jelly Sauce.  Melt in another 1/2 stick unsalted butter, then whisk in 3 cups buttermilk.  Mix part of the milk-broth in a small measuring cup with 2 tablespoons cornstarch to make a smooth paste, then whisk it back into the pot of liquid, the base for the pasta sauce.  Stir in 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, 6 sandwich slices of yellow American cheese, and 1/2 to 1 pound of grated Parmesan.  Cook to thicken, then keep adding a little bit of cornstarch paste when needed until you get the desired thickness.  When thickness has been achieved, stir in shredded corned beef, then everything else– pasta, halved brussels sprouts, and quarter-sliced lemons.  Toss and combine with tongs, taste for possible addition of salt and freshly ground black pepper.  

little cabbages