Sunday Suppers: A Mother’s Day Lunch

Instead of doing our usual bigger than normal Sunday dinner, we decided to make Sunday lunch for Momager (and Dadtractor).  We wanted them to enjoy a nice family meal at fortytwentyfour but also, I had forgotten to make reservations for Mother’s Day and all her favorites were booked solid.  I also didn’t order her gift early enough and we sent Micah’s Mom’s gift too late for her to receive it by Mother’s Day.  I know, we’re bad kids.

I had a pretty elaborate lunch menu planned but then had to scrap most of it at the last minute because the recipes were stored in an email on my work account which was of course down for the weekend.  We ended up with broiled asparagus and broccolini, baked salmon with lemon and fresh dill, lemon risotto and to finish, ricotta cheesecake.

We of course don’t have many pictures from lunch because in addition to being bad kids, we’re bad bloggers.  We always forget the pictures.  We did manage to get a few disjointed ones though.

The dill is from our kitchen herb garden.  I just sliced some lemon, cut some dill and drizzled the whole thing with olive oil, sea salt and pepper.  15 to 20 minutes on the low rack in the oven with it set to 350 degrees and it was done and yummy.

The recipe for the lemon risotto came from Smitten Kitchen.  I love that blog.

My parents and Micah enjoying lunch.

Ricotta Cheesecake for dessert.  My Dad recently found out he was borderline diabetic so I took the Martha Stewart recipe and substituted the sugar for Splenda.  I’ve made this cake before and it’s usually fluffier but it was just as good.  Here’s the recipe from Everyday Food (I got mine for the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook).  I also halfed the recipe since there were only 4 of us.

Ingredients

• Unsalted butter, softened for pan
• Plain dried breadcrumbs, for pan (this wasn’t in the original recipe)
• 1 cup golden raisins (I omit these because I don’t like raisins)
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• Finely grated zest of 1 orange
• 2 containers (15 ounces each) ricotta cheese, preferably whole-milk (3 1/3 cups)
• 1 cup sugar (substituted for Splenda)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 9-inch springform pan, and dust with breadcrumbs, tapping out excess. In a small bowl, stir together raisins, flour, and zests; set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, beat ricotta, sugar, and salt until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture, and beat just until smooth (don't overmix).
3. Pour mixture into prepared pan; place on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until cake is browned and jiggles only slightly when shaken, 60 to 70 minutes. Cool completely in pan; unmold to serve. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

It’s a really delicious and light cake.  It’s not very sweet even when you use real sugar and it’s ALWAYS a hit. 

It seemed like Momager really enjoyed the lunch.  She loved the cake and I hope she’ll love the gift that should arrive today.  We also hope that Micah’s Mom had a lovely Mother’s Day and enjoys her gift when it arrives soon.