Catch of the Day By Lise Funderburg

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Fishing used to be a take-it-or-leave-it proposition for me. As a kid, I spent every summer on a lake in Minnesota, where I was the youngest in a gaggle of siblings and cousins. When they headed down to the dock to fish, I happily tagged along. Before I hit double digits, I had mastered the art of casting—bringing the top of the rod back over one shoulder and snapping it forward. I learned how to fix a wriggling worm onto a hook without being squeamish. I also learned that I was responsible for cleaning what I caught, and that hooks were as hard to extract from human flesh as they were from fish.

I spent the next 20 years in lakeless cities, until my dad bought a vacation house in Georgia in 1985 and stocked the nearby pond. In that bucolic spot, fishing returned as our family pastime.

On one visit to the pond, I landed a family record—22 fish. For reasons still unclear to me, I could do no wrong. I’d barely get the hook into the water, when a thrilling jolt on the line would snap me to attention. My husband, not having much success with his own rig, shouted advice from the shore each time I rewound my line.

I made myself scarce during the gutting and filleting, but not during that night’s family fish fry. Nothing tastes better than freshly caught fish, especially if it’s fish you caught yourself.

Inexplicably, on my more recent visits, I’ve lost my touch and haven’t caught a thing. But I’ll never lose my passion for fishing. It’s helped me to appreciate nature and the joy of not doing in a life where, like so many people, I often do too much. Maybe it’s because, at the ripe age of 48, I can’t find a bigger rush this side of the law. Maybe it’s because it has revived a bond for my family, hooking another generation in the process. Or maybe it’s that hunting or gathering your own food—not just lifting it off a Styrofoam tray—is how it ought to be.

Lise Funderburg is the author of “Pig Candy: Taking My Father South, Taking My Father Home” (Free Press).

Potato Salad Almondine

1 lb small new potatoes ½ lb. haricot verts 1 cup toasted slivered almonds ¼ cup parsley, chopped ¼ cup white wine vinegar ½ cup extra virgin olive oil 2 lemons, juice

2 tablespoon Dijon mustard, heaping 4 hard boiled eggs, quartered 2 shallots, minced sea salt black pepper sprinkle of paprika for garnish

Trim ends of haricot verts and blanche for 2 minutes in boiling water.
Remove and place in ice water to shock and discontinue cooking. Toast almond slivers until light brown. Boil eggs, peel and quarter. Whisk
vinegar, oil, lemon juice, mustard, shallots, and a sprinkle of sea salt and black pepper to taste. Mix potatoes, haricot verts, almonds and parsley with vinaigrette thoroughly. Sprinkle eggs, paprika, sea salt and pepper over top,
specifically seasoning eggs.

Whole Grilled Trout

1 whole trout per person 1 lemon, sliced into rounds Sprinkle of extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt White pepper Mixed fresh herbs, bunch of thyme, parsley, oregano

Season inside of trout cavity with salt, pepper, olive oil. Add lemon rounds and herbs loosely placed into cavity. Grill trout over a hot flame on an outdoor grill or stovetop grill pan, approximately 6 minutes on each side. Use grill cover to impart a smoky flavor to fish. Remove and serve immediately.

Combine all ingredients and dollop on fish.

All recipes by Chef John Fraser of Dovetail Restaurant in New York City

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