Dad's Tuna Salad

Sometimes I'll serve this salad as a meal.  It is especially well suited to those hot days when you crave a light and refreshing dinner.  I saw several versions of this recipe on the internet, but those recipes use chickpeas in the ingredients.  They are more complicated than this simple recipe that I shamelessly stole (and shamelessly renamed) from an old friend. The photo shows large chunks of celery because I borrowed it from the internet: but don't leave the celery that big!   I'll take a new photo next time I make this.   Enjoy.  

Ingredients:

• Two or three celery stalks, minced fine
• one 120 gram tin (standard size) of tuna in water
• one teaspoon oregano
• one teaspoon basil
• about 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• squeeze of lime juice
• two or three tomatoes
• five of six leaves of lettuce 

How to make:

• Mix the finely chopped celery in a bowl with the drained tuna, using a fork to break up the tuna and mix well
• Mix in oregano, basil, salt and pepper. (I like to add some hot pepper flakes to taste, but that's just me.)
• Add the olive oil and stir well.  
• Lay a few leaves of lettuce on serving plates with the edges facing upwards to serve as a bowl for the tuna and celery mixture.
• Arrange tomato slices around outside perimeter of the lettuce.
• Divide the tuna and celery mixture on the lettuce in the center of each serving plate
• Squeeze a dash of lemon juice (or squeeze a little from a bottle) onto the tuna mixture before serving.
• Salt and pepper to taste at the table.

Goes with:

I usually serve as a meal by itself, but I have used small portions as a starter salad.

It goes well with sausages and pasta, and white wine on a summer day.