Divas on a Dime: An easy tart that will win Mom’s heart

Sunday is Mother’s Day, are you ready? May I let you in on a little secret? Moms just want to know you’re thinking about them when you plan their special day. The word of the day is “thoughtful”.

Here’s your chance to spoil her. Make sure she doesn’t have to do any of her regular routine. This means you need to arrange to take her out to eat and/or make something special.

Here’s a recipe that looks fancy pants but is actually very simple to prepare. Perfect for breakfast, lunch or a light supper. We get help from frozen puff pastry and a recipe for shortcut hollandaise sauce using an immersion blender that will upgrade your brunch game forevermore.

HERBED RICOTTA AND ASPARAGUS TART

What You’ll Need:

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (half of 17.3-ounce package), thawed

1 large egg

1 cup ricotta cheese

¼ teaspoon Kosher salt

1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning

1 lemon

2 green onions, chopped

1 tablespoon Italian parsley, chopped

12 ounces asparagus, trimmed

½ tablespoon olive oil

Here’s How:

Preheat oven to 425°F. Place oven rack in lower third of the oven.

To begin: size up your asparagus. If it’s quite thin you can just place it on the tart with no special preparation. If it’s thicker, like mine, you’ll want to precook it a little. Break off any woody stems and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle with a little olive oil and bake for 5 to 10 minutes while the oven preheats. Meanwhile …

Unfold the pastry onto parchment paper and roll to about 2 inches larger in each direction. Slide parchment with the pastry onto baking sheet. In medium bowl, beat egg. Using a pastry brush, brush ½ inch border of egg around the edge of the pastry. This gives it that beautiful browned color on the crust.

Into the bowl with remaining egg, add ricotta, salt and lemon pepper. Finely grate zest of lemon into bowl, then fold in onions and herbs. Spread onto pastry, leaving border uncovered.

Top filling artistically with asparagus; drizzle with oil. Bake until crust is golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Garnish with thin slices of lemon. Serve warm or at room temperature. Optional - drizzle with Hollandaise Sauce.

30-SECOND HOLLANDAISE SAUCE

What You’ll Need:

3 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon lemon juice

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup (1 stick) butter (I know! It’s an occasion!!!)

Here’s How:

Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, and salt in the bottom of a wide-mouth mason jar. Melt the butter in the microwave in a Pyrex measuring cup.

Place your immersion blender into the egg mixture and give it a quick mix, immediately start to drizzle the warm butter into the mason jar and blend for several seconds until the sauce is thick and creamy. Adjust seasoning to taste.

If you don’t feel comfortable using raw eggs, pasteurized eggs are available in most supermarkets. Pasteurized eggs have been briefly heated to a temperature that kills dangerous bacteria but doesn’t ‘cook’ the egg.

For more Mother’s Day ideas remember my website divasonadime.com and Happy Mother’s Day!

Frugal Festivity contributed by Patti Diamond of Divas On A Dime – Where Frugal, Meets Fabulous! www.divasonadime.com Join us on Facebook at DivasOnADimeDotCom