Old Bay-Lime Tuna Steak with Basil-Arugula Couscous

Every so often I have an "I need to eat more fish! Omega 3!" freak out because I really don't eat this stuff all that often. (I mean, how many entries in the past year have featured fish vs entries that have featured chicken? Do I even want to know?) I often say that I don't like fish that much, but that isn't really true. I think I've only had fish turn out nastily twice, and both times it was because I used the wrong sort of fish for the recipe. And whenever I eat it in restaurants, it's always fabulous and amazing and good. Maybe I just don't like to cook it. (I know I don't like the smell much. So that's probably part of it too.) At any rate, I decided I should institute a Fish-For-Supper Sunday. So today was my first Sunday.

This was really tasty. I mean... really, really tasty. Really overcooked. But so tasty.

I found the recipe over at All Recipes and most of the reviews said not to marinate for the full twenty minutes, and several also warned about the cooking time, since tuna should be rare or medium rare.

I tried. I tried so hard! I marinated the steak for about 8 minutes, rather than 20, and I only cooked it for 6 of the 8-10. And yet. And yet it was very well done. It was dry. It was texturally very uninspiring. I mean... drier than canned water-packed tuna. But the flavour! Yum. If I'd made two rather than one, I'd have eaten them both. Even overcooked.

The couscous was sort of a variation on a Rachael Ray recipe for rice pilaf. I didn't want to buy a rice pilaf just for the recipe and I didn't feel like taking the time to make my own, so I made couscous instead. Basically, I sautéed onion, garlic, and red pepper in a bit of oil, then added vegetable broth, and the couscous. After it had absorbed the water, I stirred in some torn up arugula and basil (that was the RR bit). It was quite good, though I think I didn't use enough water for the volume of dry couscous, since it didn't seem to expand very much, but had absorbed all the water.

All that said, I know I'm going to try the tuna again, and I'll very likely give the couscous another go as well (though I don't know when that'll happen, as I don't like buying arugula - I don't eat enough to warrant spending $4 on a giant tub of the stuff).

(Incidentally: Fish 8, Chicken 54.)