Marinated Cucumber Salad

Normally I throw English cukes into everything. For this salad, it was all about regular cukes. This is the easiest side dish ever. I threw it together while some pork ribs were slowly doing their thing in the oven, before hitting the grill. This cucumber salad is fresh, crisp, and crunchy.

The Three Bite Rule - Marinated Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

1 large cucumber, pealed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
1/2 tsp dill
1-2 tsp sugar

Directions:

In a jar, shake together the oil, vinegar, dill, and sugar.
The Three Bite Rule - Marinated Cucumber Salad
Add the cucumber slices, and mix well.
The Three Bite Rule - Marinated Cucumber Salad
Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
Serve & enjoy!
The Three Bite Rule - Marinated Cucumber Salad
My mom used to make simple cucumber salads and simple tomato salads. They are such a great fresh side during BBQ season. They go with anything and are exactly what you need with a burger, something grilled, or something saucy.

Peppers and Meatball Calzone

This calzone isn’t such a far cry from my sausage and peppers calzone or from my meatball and spinach calzone but I think some of the best calzones are really the most successful. I like the mix of flavors and textures. Turkey meatballs have rent-controlled residence in my freezer and make a great calzone filling.

Not all turkey meatballs are created equal. Trader Joe’s has, hands down, the best ones out there. Perdue Turkey Meatballs are terrible…though this wouldn’t be the worst way to use ’em up. Cooked Perfect are pretty good. I’d definitely try Butterball’s turkey meatballs but I haven’t seen them in passing. I’ve made turkey meatballs myself but I think I like the ground chicken meatballs I’ve made better.

The Three Bite Rule - Meatball Calzone

Ingredients:

pizza dough
6-8 turkey meatballs
1/2 green pepper
1/2 white onion
1 cup tomato sauce
8 oz shredded mozzarella

Directions:

Preheat the oven, and a pizza stone if using one, to 375 degrees.
Slice the meatballs into disks, the pepper into strips, and the onion into strips.
Saute the onions in a tsp of olive oil until tender, and starting to get translucent, about 4 minutes.
Add in the peppers, cook for another 5 minutes until everything is cooked through but still has some texture.
The Three Bite Rule - Meatball Calzone
Spread the pizza dough onto the pizza stone or onto a baking sheet. Lay the dough out onto the pan off center, so you’re adding the fillings to what will be the bottom, and you’ll be folding over the top. You won’t be repositioning it on the pan again.
Add the fillings in layers: cheese, peppers & onions, meatball disks, and a drizzle of tomato sauce. Repeat the layers filling and adding what seems like over-filling.
The Three Bite Rule - Meatball Calzone
Fold the top over across the filling. Pinch it closed, and slice some vents across the top.
Bake 20 minutes, then brush with eggwash or olive oil. Bake another 10 until golden brown.
The Three Bite Rule - Meatball Calzone
Let sit 5 minutes before slicing. (I cut it too soon, and look what happens).
The Three Bite Rule - Meatball Calzone
It was so good. I loved the tradtional-ish flavors. Sometimes I go for out-there flavors but that made me appreciate what works together. The turkey meatballs being fully cooked helped speed this along. I tried to be careful to cook the onions enough before adding the peppers so they could cook evenly.
The Three Bite Rule - Meatball Calzone

Afternoon Tea Time

For a belated Mother’s Day outing, sis and I took our Momma to tea. We got dressed up and went downtown. Many of the hotels offer tea, but we went to The Langham, Boston because I just had an event there and they are lovely to work with. I was happy to give them our business.

The Three Bite Rule - Afternoon Tea
After cosying around a coffee table in plush sofas and arm chairs, we each ordered the Tiffin selection. For tea, I had a pomegrante green tea. I liked the showiness of getting smell the samples.

We got our tea and the sandwiches. There was a smoked salmon on Boston brown bread, egg & chive salad on brioche, roast beef and farmer’s cheese on sourdough, and English cucumber and dill with cream cheese. My fav was the egg salad.

The Three Bite Rule - Afternoon Tea
Next came the scones. Ohh the scones. This was the best scone I’ve ever had. Ever. There was clotted cream, strawberry jam, and lemon curd for the scones. I loved the mix of clotted cream and sweet jam. I could have just had the scones and tea. They were, hands down, the best part.
The Three Bite Rule - Afternoon Tea
We ended it with dessert. I think some were lacking and not really my thing. The raspberry macaroon and a little chocolate crunch cake were both amazing. I didn’t care about the other two.
The Three Bite Rule - Afternoon Tea
It was fun. I think we would have liked to order a la carte better. The sandwiches were good, but there was probably twice as many as we each needed.

Brown Butter Pasta with Summer Veggies

I figured out how to take the mystery out of brown butter. Making it in white-bottomed pot made it sooo much easier. There wasn’t a risk of the butter going too far.

The Three Bite Rule - Brown Butter Pasta

Ingredients:

1 stick butter (not margarine or a butter substitute)
1/2 pound of pasta (rigatoni or penne or other short pasta)
asparagus spears
1 cup corn
1 1/2 cup tomatoes (cherry or grape)
6-8 basil leaves (optional)
2 tsp grated Parmesan

Directions:

Heat a large flat pan to medium heat.
Cut the butter into chunks and add to the pan.
The Three Bite Rule - Brown Butter Pasta
Preheat the oven to 400-degrees.
Whisk the butter as it melts, watching for it to foam up.
Cut the asparagus into 4ths, and spread out onto a baking sheet with a drizzle of olive oil. Roast the asparagus for about 7 minutes.
Boil plenty of salted water for the pasta.
When the butter starts to get light tan specks on the bottom, start whisking.
The Three Bite Rule - Brown Butter Pasta
Keep whisking as it gets brown all over the bottom of the pan, and then remove from heat, about 2 minutes. If it stays heating too long it will burn and you’ll have to start over.
Add the tomatoes and the corn onto the pan with the asparagus and return to the oven for about 5-7 minutes.
The Three Bite Rule - Brown Butter Pasta
Put the pasta into the salted water, cook according to package.
Drain the pasta.
Toss the pasta with the roasted veggies and the brown butter. Sprinkle with basil and a touch of Parmesan.
The Three Bite Rule - Brown Butter Pasta
I loved this. The veggies were a great blend. The asparagus still had some crunch while the tomatoes added some moisture. The corn was pretty much for color and a touch of sweetness. I looove brown butter.

When I’ve made it in my dark-bottomed pots I found it hard to tell when it was done – versus too-done. This time I made it in a flat dutch oven. The glazed pot made it really easy to tell when it was ready. I love the nutty flavor. It is seriously the easiest sauce for pasta. It is good on filled pasta that still need to be the highlight…like lobster ravioli or pumpkin ravioli.

May Recap

May was bussssy. My event was amazing, we broke the 22-year fundraising records. It was awesome. Then there were a few trips to Maine and a few busy weekends. I took a break after not feeling overly proud of my latest meals. I did have a few goodies in May.

I started with a his/hers topped Caesar Salads hers with grilled shrimp, his with grilled steak.
The Three Bite Rule - Caesar Salad with Grilled Shrimp
Baked Gnocchi was a great freezer/pantry meal, especially fitting on a pre-spring cool night. I was thinking baked ravioli but I found some frozen gnocchi and got a quick meat sauce together.
The Three Bite Rule - Baked Gnocchi
I loooved this twist on chicken & waffles, making it into a panini.

One of the best meals of the month was an Asian inspired salad with peanut butter chicken. It has some great flavors with the peanut butter, oranges, and edemame. Yum.
The Three Bite Rule - Asian Salad with Peanut Butter Chicken

P.S. Happy Birthday to my Momma!


Let’s check on my goals: 

Buy myself flowers more often – The Year of having-more-flowers is going strong, this month was the iris.
send more mail – I sent some mother’s day cards
make some Pinterest pins a reality 
cook with yeast (yikes!)
try a spin class
make more cocktails – hmmm, no special cocktails to share. June seems right for something lemonade-inspired.

Next week has some legit recipes. Stay tuned!