Tuna A La Lindsay

I have to preface this post with the following: (If you know me well, you already know this but for those of you who don't, this background information is important to note.) I don't eat seafood. At all. Like nothing, zero, nada, zilch. And to answer your question What's that? You didn't ask me a question? Well let me just save you the time because when people hear me say I don't eat seafood, inevitably, I get asked a question along these lines, "What about lobster or shrimp or crab!?" None of it. So today when I happened upon some tuna steaks at the grocery store for a pretty good price and bought them to cook for me & my hubby tonight, some may have thought an alien had come down & possessed my body. Clearly Lindsay Miller is not about to cook tuna. She has no idea HOW to cook tuna. And clearly she is not about to eat tuna. She does not EAT seafood. Well I truly don't have any idea what possessed me although I feel pretty strongly that it was not aliens to buy tuna steaks and cook them for dinner, but I did. I knew it would be an adventure...one worthy of documenting. So here you have it. Lindsay Miller cooks AND EATS tuna:

1. Find yourself some good-looking tuna. Although don't rely on me to tell you what is or is not "good-looking" tuna, because I honestly have no clue.

2. I used the following things to marinate my tuna:

3. And I also got some of these, but not for marinating. They're used later.

4. Drizzle your tuna steaks with a little olive oil.

5. Sprinkle with some of your favorite seasonings. I think you can pretty much use whatever you want, but I would not leave off the Lemon Pepper. It's key!

6. Pour in soy sauce for the tuna to soak in.

7. I marinated for a total of 30 minutes. According to the experts (ie my Mom) you don't want to marinate tuna in soy sauce for longer than that. I flipped the steaks over every 5 minutes during that time period. I'm sure that's probably a little overkill. I think the steaks probably would have been just fine being flipped once in the middle of the 30 minutes, but this was my first time so I wanted to make sure I was covering all my bases.

8. Get some Pam...
...and spray a grill pan really well. Of course you can cook these on an actual grill or just use a regular skillet, but I have a kick butt grill pan that my sister gave me for Christmas (Thanks Anna!) so I'm using that.

9. Heat your pan up really nice & hot...
...with a good high flame.

10. Place your tuna steaks on the grill pan. And whatever you do, do NOT move them once you place them down. You don't want to mess up the pretty grill lines. :)

11. Set a timer. I used the trusty iPhone because why not? I mean, it does everything else. It might as well time my tuna too. Sear at the high heat for 1.5 minutes.

12. Flip the steaks over and sear for 1.5 min on the other side. LOOK at those grill marks! Yeah!

13. Now here's where it gets a little fuzzy. I then turned down the fire, flipped the steaks back over and continued to cook them for 4 minutes on each side. I was really afraid of the tuna being pink. I know, I know! It's supposed to be pink. But this was my first time. I knew my mind would not let me eat a piece of fish that wasn't cooked all the way through. Maybe each time I make this, I can cook it a little less and ease my way into being a REAL tuna eater, but for now I prefer it COOKED. Little did I know my husband IS a real tuna eater and prefers his seared on the outside and basically raw on the inside. So, lesson learned. I'll put his steak on when mine has 3 minutes left. Sorry babe! Anyway, back to the cooking.

14. Cut your lemon.

15. As soon as you turn off your fire, squeeze the lemon over the steaks.

16. Take the tuna out of the pan, put it in a dish, and cover it with foil.

17. Let it sit for just a few minutes. I have no idea what this step is for. I just read it online. I'm guessing maybe it helps seal in all the flavor?

18. Serve with rice. Or whatever side dish you want. It's your dinner, not mine. Wait this IS my dinner. And that's why there's rice & nothing green on the plate.
That's all folks. And the verdict is....I LOVED it. It seriously was delicious. If I had known to cook my hubby's for .5 seconds he might have LOVED his, but I didn't, so he didn't. He said the flavor was great. It was just overcooked for his taste. So there you have it. Tuna A La Lindsay.