It’s May, it’s May, the month of … Mother’s Day! Of course, taking Mom out to a restaurant is always correct, but nothing speaks of love more than a home-cooked meal.
Let her choose a comfy chair and serve her this simple-to-make and utterly delicious frittata, which makes a lovely brunch. Add a lightly dressed mesclun and grape tomato salad, croissants or French rolls and yummy Raspberry Melba Sundaes for dessert.
ASPARAGUS, HAM AND SWISS FRITTATA
This springtime frittata calls for asparagus, but you could easily substitute blanched broccoli florets, green beans, zucchini, Brussels sprouts or almost any lightly cooked vegetable. Frittatas can be served hot, warm or at room temperature.
Serves 4 for brunch or lunch
½ pound slender asparagus, trimmed and cut into ½-inch lengths
8 eggs
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup diced cooked ham
1 cup grated Swiss cheese
½ cup thinly sliced scallions
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shredded Romano or Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground black pepper
Cook asparagus in boiling salted water for about 3 minutes, or until just crisp-tender. Drain into a colander, run under cold water to stop the cooking and drain again. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with the mustard, salt and cayenne. Stir in the ham, Swiss cheese and scallions.
Preheat the broiler. Heat the butter in a 10-inch skillet with an ovenproof handle over medium heat. When the foam subsides, pour in the egg mixture and scatter the drained asparagus over the top. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for about 10 minutes or until the eggs are almost set on top.
Sprinkle the Romano cheese over the frittata and place the skillet under the broiler for 1 to 2 minutes, until top is just set and flecked with brown. Grind black pepper over the top before cutting the frittata into wedges to serve.
RASPBERRY MELBA SUNDAES
Serves 4
The classic dessert, named for an Australian opera singer, was composed of poached peaches, vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce, but if you serve this ruby red puree over peach ice cream, you get a result that tastes like the classic and more complicated dessert. This sauce is also delicious over pancakes or pound cake.
12 ounces (3 cups) fresh or thawed frozen raspberries
5 to 7 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Peach ice cream
In a medium saucepan, bring the berries, ¼ cup water, 5 tablespoons sugar and the salt to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Simmer for about 1 minute to dissolve the sugar.
Pulse the berry mixture to a puree in a food processor. Set a medium-mesh sieve over a bowl and press the berry mixture through it to extract as much puree as possible. Stir in the lemon juice. Taste the puree and add up to 2 tablespoons additional sugar if needed. (The sauce can be made a couple of days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
Scoop the ice cream into pretty bowls or glasses, spoon the sauce over it and serve.
Brooke Dojny is author or co-author of more than a dozen cookbooks, most recently “Lobster!” She lives on the Blue Hill peninsula and can be contacted via Facebook at:
facebook.com/brookedojny
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