Mother’s Day is observed on the second Sunday of May. People often go out for brunch or dinner with their moms or their family and have a wonderful ole’ time (assuming that they get along with their mom/family). But let’s say that you forgot to make reservations (good luck trying to get in), or are in a position where you can’t really go to a restaurant with your family (imagine trying to make a reservation for a family of cats, dogs, parakeets, budgies or rabbits...).
You could prepare a spring vegetable frittata:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Heat oil in heavy 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Cook leek with a pinch of salt, stirring occasionally, until leeks soften and start to turn translucent, 5 to 6 minutes. Add jalapeno and zucchini; season with pinch of salt. Cook until zucchini start to get tender and pale green, about 5 minutes. Add asparagus and cook until bright green, about 1 minute. Add spinach and another pinch of salt, cooking until wilted, 1 minute. Stir in cooked potatoes and heat through, about 5 minutes.
- Crack 12 large eggs into a bowl. Add cayenne, salt, and pepper. Whisk for at least 30 seconds. Pour eggs into over vegetables in skillet over medium heat. Add 3 ounces of crumbled goat cheese; stir lightly until evenly distributed. Top with remaining cheese. Remove from heat.
- Bake in preheated oven until eggs are set, 12 to 15 minutes. When nearly set, turn on broiler. Broil frittata until top browns, 1 to 2 minutes. Cool slightly; serve warm.
Couple that frittata with some strawberry crepes that melt in your mouth:
- Place the eggs, milk, water, melted butter, flour, and salt in the pitcher of a blender; blend until smooth.
- Blend the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth. Gently fold in the whipped cream.
- Heat a lightly oiled griddle or non-stick skillet over medium heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 2 tablespoons for each crepe. Tip and rotate pan to spread batter as thinly as possible. Flip over when the batter is set and the edges are beginning to brown. Cook until the other side begins to brown. Stack finished crepes on a plate, cover with a damp towel and set aside.
- To serve, fill each crepe with 1/4 cup sliced strawberries and 1/3 cup of the cream cheese filling, roll up and top with a small dollop of the cream cheese filling and more sliced strawberries.
Creamy Strawberry Crepes
To finish the meal, dessert together with some coffee, tea or other beverage (or something more adventurous such as mimosa, tequila sunrise or prosecco):
- Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan. Stir in the butter and salt until the butter has melted; remove the saucepan from the heat. Stir in the flour until no dry lumps remain; stir in the eggs, one at a time, adding the next egg only after the last one has been completely incorporated into the mixture. Drop the profiterole paste onto the prepared baking sheet in evenly spaced dollops.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the pastries have puffed up and turned golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack to room temperature.
- Beat 1 cup of heavy cream to soft peaks; stir in the confectioners' sugar and rosewater until the sugar has dissolved. Bring the remaining cup of heavy cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted and smooth.
- To assemble, poke a hole into the bottom of each pastry and fill with the rose water cream. Place the filled profiteroles onto individual serving plates and top with the warm sauce. Leftover profiteroles may be stored sealed in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 5 days.
Profiteroles
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8x8-inch baking pan.
- Combine butter with 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar in a bowl until smooth; stir in 1 cup flour. Press dough into prepared baking pan; pierce crust with fork in several places to prevent crust from puffing up during baking.
- Bake crust in the preheated oven until slightly golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool.
- Whisk white sugar and eggs in a bowl; stir 3 tablespoons flour into mixture and add lemon juice, lemon peel, and salt. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Pour mixture into baked tart crust.
- Bake until filling is set, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool and dust with 3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar.
Sweet and Simple Lemon Tart
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- In a 10-inch heavy skillet with a heat-resistant handle (I use a cast iron skillet), melt 1/2 cup butter over very low heat. Remove from heat, and sprinkle brown sugar evenly over pan. Arrange pineapple slices to cover bottom of skillet. Distribute cherries around pineapple; set aside.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Separate the eggs into two bowls. In a large bowl, beat egg whites just until soft peaks form. Add granulated sugar gradually, beating well after each addition. Beat until medium-stiff peaks form. In a small bowl, beat egg yolks at high speed until very thick and yellow. With a wire whisk or rubber scraper, using an over-and-under motion, gently fold egg yolks and flour mixture into whites until blended. Fold in 1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine and almond extract. Spread batter evenly over pineapple in skillet.
- Bake until surface springs back when gently pressed with fingertip and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 to 35 minutes. Loosen the edges of the cake with table knife. Cool the cake for 5 minutes before inverting onto serving plate.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with silicone baking mats.
- Stir water, butter, 1 teaspoon white sugar, and salt together in a pot; bring to a simmer. Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon until mixture pulls away from the sides of the pot and forms a thick, paste-like dough. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Stir eggs into dough one at a time, mixing until egg is completely incorporated after each addition. Transfer 2/3 the dough to a large resealable plastic bag. Cut corner of the bag away, about 1/2-inch wide, to form an opening through which to pipe the dough.
- Pipe 8 tapered ovals of dough onto the prepared baking sheet to form the 'swan bodies', pulling up at the tapered end to form the 'tail/wingtips'.
- Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
- While the 'swan bodies' are baking, fill a smaller bag with with the remaining 1/3 the dough; cut a small tip from the corner. Pipe out S-shapes to form the swan 'necks'. At the top of each S, pipe out more dough to form the swan 'heads'.
- When the 'bodies' are halfway cooked, bake the 'necks' in the oven together with the swan 'bodies' oven until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes.
- Turn off the oven, open the oven door slightly, and let pastries cool completely.
- Cut the top 1/3 off of each swan body horizontally, from fatter end to tapered end. Cut each top in half to form the 'wings'.
- Place chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Bring 4 ounces heavy cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Pour hot cream over chocolate and whisk until chocolate is completely melted and ganache is shiny and smooth. Spoon or pipe chocolate ganache into the base of each swan 'body'.
- Beat 1 cup cold cream in a chilled glass or metal bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add 1 tablespoon sugar and vanilla extract, continuing to beat until stiff peaks form. Transfer whipped cream into a piping bag with a star tip.
- Pipe cream to fill each swan 'body', piping up and out the top to resemble swan 'feathers'. Place 'wings' on each side of the 'body' sticking up out of the cream, and place 'neck' in the base of each swan. Refrigerate until chilled. Dust with confectioners' sugar.