Summer Salad Nicoise with Fresh Grilled Tuna

Mr. Tom is the catch of the day

Mr. Tom was invited to an evening of fishing on Glenn Lake with one of his service techs, Shannon. Sounds great and off the two went in pursuit of the big one that wouldn't get away. Little did Shannon know that his companion, the man with more endearing nicknames than fish stories would himself  become the big catch of the day.

This then becomes Shannon's story. As he tells it, he and Mr. Tom were spending a peaceful evening on the water with a smidgen of activity on their lines when Mr. Tom felt the need to relieve himself. The boys were fishing from Shannon's 17 foot watercraft when Mr. Tom moved toward the edge of the boat.

Just a moment later Shannon heard a willful outburst and turned just in time to watch the 2 foot tall running light at the rear of the boat accompany Mr. Tom into the dark and chilly lake. With an enormous splash from Mr. Tom aka ("Big Dog" "T-Bone" "Jimmy T") whatever your favorite nickname happened to be at the time... the fact was, Mr. Tom was now swimming with the fish.

Now what? There was Mr. Tom swimming with he fish and the boat had no provision for loading a new passenger from the water. No ladder, no ski deck, no way, how would Mr. Tom Get back in the boat? After a few futile attempts on Mr. Tom's part to hoist himself boat side failed... Mr. Tom suggested Shannon tow him to shore with a rope tied to his waist! Can you just see this!

Surely this would work but Lord have mercy Mr. Tom was having a difficult time keeping his head above water and this plan was quickly scrapped. Shannon at this point with the rope attached to Mr. Tom exclaimed that he thought he could pull Mr. Tom into the boat. Mr. Tom was skeptical and put a small wager on the outcome of this new exercise. Sure enough Shannon was able to get just the right lift and pull and with Mr. Tom's help slid him over the edge and into the boat, not unlike a 250 pound tuna.

The whole experience had some sense of seriousness until Shannon saw Mr. Tom sitting safe on the shore pulling  his shoe off and pouring the water out... he then scrapped his phone and pager along with the drying of his wallet. Now this was more than Shannon could take and finally broke into uncontrollable laughter. As the story spread around the office and a good laugh was had by all...well you guessed it, the man with all those endearing nicknames just added another, Aqua Man.

Summer Salad Nicoise with Fresh Grilled Tuna

Serves 6

 

1 lb. fresh tuna pan seared medium rare on your new grill from Proctor Gas

3/4 lb. small new potatoes boiled and sliced

3/4 lb. string beans/ blanched

2 heads romaine hearts/ chopped

1 small red onion, peeled and thinly sliced

3 hard boiled eggs quartered

6 oz. flat anchovy filet

1 small red bell pepper/ sliced thin

3 vine ripe ripe tomatoes /quartered

1/2 cup kalamata black olives pits removed

3 tablespoons mixed minced fresh herbs

Thyme, parsley, basil chervil, tarragon and chives

Salt & Pepper

 

Mix together in layers and toss with your favorite herb infused balsamic vinaigrette garnish with anchovy crossed on the egg