St. Patrick's Day Feast - Green Pizza and Pasta!

I made a St. Patrick's Day feast of Green Chicken Pesto Pasta and Corned Beef, Cabbage and Potato Pizza. 

For the Pasta:

Ingredients:

1) two packets of Knorr's CREAMY pesto mix

2) one 16oz box of Mueller's corkscrew pasta

3) two cups of reduced fat milk

4) half cup olive oil

5) one cup grated Parmesan cheese

6) one precooked rotisserie chicken (or you could roast your own)

Instructions:

1) Boil a big pot of salted water for the pasta

2) Add the box of pasta to the boiling water and cook for about 12 minutes or until soft 

3) Tear up about 2 cups of chicken (or however much comes off - white meat is best) and set aside

4) In a small saucepan mix together the pesto packets, olive oil, and milk. Bring to a boil whisking constantly over medium high heat. Once it boils reduce heat to low and let it thicken for about 3 minutes or so and keep whisking. 

4) Drain pasta and then put pasta back in the pot you boiled it in

5) Add the chicken to the pasta and then pour the pesto sauce over it all and stir it up. Then stir in the Parmesan cheese

6) Pour onto a serving dish. Yum. 

July 2016 edit: I added about a half a cup of sun dried tomatoes and drained the oil off. 

Now for the pizza!

Ingredients:

1) One Bobolli pre-made crust (or make your own if you have time)

2) Half a head of green cabbage thinly sliced 

3) Pickling spices (McCormick makes - in the spice aisle hidden behind a clip strip of kitchen twine in my store). 

4) Half pound of corned beef from the deli section. (A little more than you need but good for tasting) Tell them its for a pizza and ask them to slice it thinly (thin as possible). 

5) One Idaho potato

6) Olive oil

7) One 8 oz block Monterrey Jack cheese that you need to grate

8) One 2 cup bag of shredded mozzarella cheese (use 1-2 cups of it)

9) Half cup grated Parmesan cheese 

Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 500 degrees

2) Sauté the sliced cabbage in a few tablespoons of olive oil that was heated over high heat in a medium pan. Add some salt and pepper. Sauté for 5 minutes. 

3) Take about 1 Tablespoon of the pickling spices and put into a small coffee filter or cheese cloth and tie up with as kitchen twine. Add the spice bundle to the cabbage and cover the cabbage with water and bring up to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. Once cooked, strain the cabbage of the water and set strained cabbage aside. 

4) Slice the potato into disks/coins about 1/8 -1/4 inch thick (thicker than potato chips). Toss in a bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper. Put potato slices on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven for 10-15 minutes.  Should be lightly brown but not burned. If you preheat the cookie sheet too then the other side will be brown too. Remove from cookie sheet and set aside. 

5) When the potatoes are done reduce the oven temp to 425 degrees 

6) Put the pizza crust on the cookie sheet after you spray the sheet with Pam. 

7) Pour about 2 tablespoons or so of olive oil and spread all over the crust

8) Layer all the roasted potato slices over the pizza

9) Layer 1/2 the cabbage mixture over that

10) Layer 1/2 the corned beef

11) Layer 1/2 the cheese

12) Repeat layers. If you have too much cabbage etc. then just don't add it all.

13) Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes. I turn the broiler on at the end to make it extra brown on top. 

If you like to dip your crust try dipping in thousand island dressing. 

Let cool and slice!!!

This whole meal was a hit!!!