Mother's Day Lunch

Dad looks hungrily at my salade nicoise!

To celebrate Mother's Day, I had Mom and Dad up to B'more. We started with Kier Royales, homemade bread, hummus, and minty pea spread with mint from Mom's garden. Next, we had salade nicoise. It tasted really good, but the most appealing part was probably the presentation. The preparation involved a bit of a splurge at whole foods, too, which may have contributed. I spread a base of Boston butter lettuce and watercress over a platter. I then added boiled small red potatoes, grape tomatoes, haricots verts, a few chives, hardboiled eggs, and nicoise olives with herbs de provence. I finished it off with grilled tuna. I tried to get fresh tuna, but they were out, so I used the "fresh catch" frozen kind from Whole Foods. It actually tasted really good--I thawed it in the microwave, brushed with oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and then cooked 2-3" on each side on my stovetop grill. The only downside was that I feel like you need to cook the frozen kind all the way through rather than just sear it, like some people like. I make a simple dressing --3T red wine vinegar, 2t Dijon, 3-4T EVOO, fresh rosemary, and salt & black pepper to taste. We finished with a Dan cake (not shaped like Dan but that same recipe).