Bird's Nest Bites

A Cook & Garden, Together In The Pacific Northwest

Zucchini Noodle Lasagna with Fresh Cherry Tomato Sauce

 

I, like many others, am buried alive by garden zucchini, and it has reached the point where we can’t give them away fast enough.  I am getting the feeling friends and neighbors are closing their curtains and locking their doors when they see me appear with my little bag of garden treats in hand.  Add to the fact that while deliriously happy to see our first cherry tomato appear, I began to avert my eyes and guiltily ignore the little guys when the big tomatoes began to ripen. A person can handle only so much guilt, so this recipe was designed to alleviate any that was associated with excessive garden production.  The cherry tomatoes are picked, halved and quickly sautéed to develop rich flavor and to drive off excess moisture.  The zucchini are thinly sliced lengthwise, baked for a few minutes just to soften, formed into spirals and set down in that fresh tomato sauce.  After that, a rich, cheesy filling is spooned into the center of the spiral…top the whole business with a little more tomato sauce, cheese, and buttered breadcrumbs for crunch.  Rich, satisfying, remarkably good for you, and fun to make.  Besides that, I can now look those cherry tomatoes in the eye again.

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Zucchini & Lemon Bread with Lemon Sugar Topping

 

I recently read that Zucchini Bread was the most frequently made and the most ‘gifted’ away bread of any other variety….it is also the one most likely to be thrown out by the recipient of said ‘gift’.  This is likely due to the fact that zucchini all by itself is seriously lacking in the flavor department.  Zucchini can also contain a whole lot of moisture, and if we don’t address that issue our bread ends up looking, and tasting like a flavorless hunk of sea sponge. I know this from first hand experience while creating this recipe, which was not a good one.  The only person who would eat that first attempt was my mother, who said “Hey, you can’t be Martha Stewart every day – get over yourself”. That comment was enough to get me back to the drawing board, and the result is this Zucchini Lemon Bread is bursting with fresh, citrusy flavor. We squeeze the living daylights out of the grated zucchini, which goes a long way to eliminate that spongy element of my prior attempts, and then top the whole thing off with a generous crackling crust of lemon sugar.  It’s fun to make, it’s easy, and I guarantee nobody will be secretly tossing this out if you can make yourself give it away.

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Peach Cake and Peach Soft Serve Ice Cream

 

Last summer, some readers asked if I thought I could make up a peach cake recipe.  It’s been banging around in my mind since then and now that we are in the middle of peach season, it seemed like a good idea to try and put one together. First of all, it had to be a solid enough batter to stand up to a peach, and that presents a challenge.  Peaches are both heavy and juicy, which can spell disaster for a wimpy cake batter that can’t take the weight or the added moisture. Turns out I didn’t need to look any farther than my own family tree…Grandma Vanderzanden to the rescue!  I dug out her old Rhubarb Cake recipe, made a few tweaks here and there, and ended up with a firm, moist cake that has plenty of peaches and a topping that is buttery, sweet, and has just a touch of cinnamon.  Whew!!! And since this is peach season, I figured tossing in a quick, no churn, soft serve peach ice cream might be a good match up for the cake.  This ice cream is loaded with fruit and has just the right amount of sweetness.  It also has no fat, so if you freeze it and unthaw, it tastes more like a granita than an ice cream.  I’m not complaining…either way is pretty good if you ask me.

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Salmon Salad with Grilled Sweet Corn and Blackberry Vinaigrette

I was thinking back to summers of my childhood, when all of us kids wreaked havoc at home and my mom, Neeners, was at her wits end, often looking heavenward and muttering ‘Give me Strength’.  When Neeners was at this point, I got shipped off to spend the night with my grandparents and Aunt Margie, and it was always a huge treat. If I was there on a Saturday night, it meant popcorn and watching Portland wrestling.  If I was an overnight guest on a Monday night, that meant that I could horn in when Margie and grandma’s friend Gladys would come for lunch on Tuesdays.  Gladys worked downtown (two blocks from Margie’s house) at the hardware store.  I was not a fan of Gladys. She seemed pretty snooty and never smiled.  Also, she was not a fan of children and I could not understand why since I was undoubtedly charming and most likely a brilliant conversationalist at six years of age.  However, Glady’s arrival meant we got to have grandma’s Salmon Salad for lunch.  This was high living, and as a kid we never had such things at our own house.  Looking back, I think it was just canned salmon, shredded iceberg lettuce and a whole lot of Miracle Whip all stirred together and served on nice dishes.

I have such fond memories of those visits (without Gladys) and wanted to recreate Salmon Salad in my own style.  This salad is hearty enough for supper and takes advantage of all that is Summer.  We’ll start with fresh salmon, and you can either grill or bake it to suit your mood. Then comes the garden bounty. I went a little bit nuts here since I am currently in major panic mode due to our garden churning out more food than we can give away, so take what you like and leave the rest, for another time.  The salmon sits on a bed of rainbow chard, and is topped with fresh yellow and red beets, colorful sweet peppers, watermelon radish, purple carrots, scallions, grilled corn, fresh blackberries and steamed green beans.  Add some grilled bread with garlic butter and a not-too-tart vinaigrette made with blackberry jelly.  I’d like to think Margie and grandma would have enjoyed it, but even if they didn’t, they’d tell me they loved it, because that’s what aunts and grandmas do.

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Cheesecake Squares with Blackberry Topping

For the most part, this recipe comes via my mom, otherwise known as Neeners. When we were kids, she used to bake her version (which was topped with canned blueberry pie filling and topped with Coolwhip), in her trusty square Corningware baking dish. We all pounced upon it and devoured it as soon as she would let us anywhere near it. This version has the same graham cracker crust and the same idea of a creamy cheesecake filling, but then I veered into a homemade blackberry topping and said ‘so long’ to the Coolwhip because it seems just fine the way it is.  It bakes up perfectly in a 13×9 inch baking dish, so if you don’t happen to have one of those vintage Corningware dishes running around, no problem.

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Shrimp Burgers with Tartar Sauce

Tired of the same old burger routine? Here’s a super-simple idea to add to your burger repertoire.  Just a few simple additions changes shrimp into an irresistible supper. The burgers are rich with shrimp, thick, and juicy, with just a touch of lemon and green onion.  After they come off the stove, they get slathered with a homemade tartar sauce to jazz up the whole works.  Add the bun of your choice, a fresh tomato, and go to town.

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Cremesicle Ice Cream Pie with Waffle Cone Crust

I have fond childhood memories of hot summer days, awaiting the neighborhood ice cream truck.  I don’t remember the driver’s name, but I thought he was ancient (but since I was 8, he could have been 25), wore a white jacket and hat, and drove a little red convertible around the neighborhood, blaring out some musical tune that could be heard for blocks, drove our parents crazy, and hypnotized all of us into running toward it at full speed. He arrived with a cooler that was fully loaded with as many ice cream treats a kid could imagine, which made it hard to decide what to choose.  I’m sure many an ice cream bar was melted with all us hanging over the side of his car, staring into the cooler, and mired in indecision.  One year, I was fully entrenched in my Drumstick phase, but when I discovered the Creamsicle the following summer, everything else fell away.  I still can’t resist that combination of creamy vanilla ice cream and orange sherbet, so dreamt up this super easy cremesicle pie. It can stay happy as a clam in your freezer for a couple of weeks or more, waiting for you to get the urge for a treat, and is nice to have for drop-in company.  The crust is crumbled waffle cones, held together with melted butter and a little sugar.  Then all that’s left to do is grab a couple of containers of ice cream and start layering. The crust is not baked in advance, so the whole thing comes together in a few minutes. I swear I can hear that little ice cream truck tune every time I grab a slice.

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Grilled Lemon Chicken with Limoncello Vinaigrette

Summer is here in all it’s glory.  Gardens are bursting, tans are forming, and cold desserts and beer are always on the menu.  The first glimmer of sunshine always sends me straight to the grill, and that translates into it being  it high time to make some Limoncello chicken.  This is not your ordinary lemon chicken – we’ve got the ultimate lemon infused marinade, but that’s not where this story ends.  An after-grilling generous drizzling with a creamy lemon vinaigrette that has both Limoncello and the juice of grilled lemon halves takes this one over the top.  Heaven on a barbecue…

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Blueberry Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel Topping

 

This recipe has ended my search for the perfect Blueberry Muffin.  For years, I was disappointed because even though they always looked delicious, biting into one was a major disappointment due to either stinginess on the berry elements, not much structure, or muffins so sweet they wanted to give me a headache. I had sworn off blueberry muffins altogether until I met these guys…. They have a nice, firm texture that can hold up to the tons of blueberries inside and is just the right amount of sweetness.  They’re topped with a buttery, crunchy streusel and just a little whisper of cinnamon that’s guaranteed to put a big smile on your face.  This recipe, like so many others, appears to have a long and winding history.  I first discovered it when my niece, Toni, made some for us from a recipe she found on Pinterest. I made a few tweaks just because I can’t keep my hands off of any recipe, and this is the result.  After all, this is the world of cooking – everybody has their own spin on the classics, and that’s a very good thing. …

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Old Fashioned Potato Salad For A Crowd

Do you have a crowd to feed this 4th of July?  Me too.  It is tradition in our family that I make the potato salad, and that I make enough for a ton of people so everybody can take some home.  This was also one of my dad’s favorite dishes, and since the 4th of July was his favorite holiday, he has been on my mind a lot lately.

I miss my dad.  Every single day.  He was a prince among men, disguised in a rumpled shirt, reading glasses covered with paint splatters, bits of sawdust and motor oil, and a baseball cap that looked like it had been run over several times.

My dad put training wheels on my first bicycle, and bought me a pony when I was too little for a big horse.  He bought my first car, a three speed, 1965 Mustang that had seen much better days.  Then he took his life into own his hands and taught me how to drive it.  He helped  buy my first house, and spent an entire year fixing it up.  We fought like cats and dogs during that year, since we each had a different perspective on how the place should look.  He favored white, black, and red.  I despised them. One day, I was painting the dining room ceiling a vivid rose color (looking back, it was hideous and I eventually did it over in another color).  Grandpa Bob walked in, saw what I was doing, and had a fit.  Then he stomped out and slammed the door.  Thirty minutes later he came back with two giant ice cream cones. That is how the year progressed.  We went through a lot of ice cream, and he never gave up on me.

Our dad loved every single moment of his life, had an amazing sense of observational humor, and could sell you the Brooklyn Bridge even if you already had one.  He loved to eat, and this Potato Salad was always one of his favorites.  He would always ask for seconds, but would caution, “Just a little spoonful.  I’m delicate, you know”.  Happy 4th of July, Grandpa Bob.  I love you.  …now let’s get going on this recipe!

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