dinner disaster => dinner AWESOME

Oh my gosh, y'all.  I love when stuff happens like this.

So I've had some tuna steaks in the fridge for not quite a week, and that makes me nervous.  I decided tonight was the time to cook them.  I get them out of the fridge, and I notice the package is sticky.  Thank you, grocery bag, for protecting my newly cleaned fridge shelf.  I'm cleaning the tuna when I realize that the edges are slightly browned.  I'm thinking that maybe it's just exposure to the air, but I don't want to take any chances (even though they smell fine...).  Tuna steaks now = smaller.

I begin by cooking some chopped onions in a bunch of pinot grigio with salt and garlic.  After it's boiled down for a while, I stick in the tuna steaks and set up my cutting board on the stove and start chopping.  I've got a pot of water, vegetable bullion, and a little bit of garlic sitting on the stove already, waiting for its happy additives.  I'm chopping roma tomatoes...I'm chopping onions...I decide to turn on my pot of water so it can start to boil.  I'm chopping onions again...something smells weird...chopping onions (it was a lot of onions)...I notice smoke coming from the stove...

...and immediately pick up my melted cutting board and rush it to the sink.  I then click off the burner and make sure windows and doors are open and fans are on.  Then I stand outside for a little while and breathe in the fresh air.  I move inside under the fan to breathe and make sure air is circulating.  Guess what's cooking this whole time?

Yeah, so I realize that the tuna's been playing on side 2 for a good many minutes now.  I turn it off and take it off the heat, and thankfully it hasn't burned -- it's only gotten really tough (exactly why you don't want to overcook fish, especially a dry and fibrous fish like tuna).  I've got the back burner going now and my water starts boiling.  Actually, from here, it's smooth sailing, so let me just give you my couscous recipe (you've already got the tuna one down, right?  Cook onions in pinot grigio with garlic and salt, add tuna, cook on medium-high, covered until only center is pink on outside, flip, cook until juice is clear or until you clear your home of toxic smoke):

Slap-Tua-Madre Italian Couscous

1 box couscous (approx 2 cups)
2 cups water, or whatever box directions say
1 veggie bullion cube (for 2 c water)
garlic powder
3/4 medium onion, chopped
olive oil (not much!)
ground black pepper
lemon juice, approx 1 1/2 tablespoons
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
chopped fresh basil (I like a LOT of it -- I used abt 8 leaves and could have gone for more)
parmesan cheese, about 1/2 cup

Boil water with bullion cube and a modest amount of garlic powder.  Add couscous, stir, and remove from heat.  Cover and let sit for 5 minutes (or cook according to box directions).  Meanwhile, lightly saute onions with a very small amount of olive oil and black pepper.  Do not overcook onions -- you want them to still be crisp, but with a slight nuttiness and minus the oniony sharpness.  Stir into finished couscous, along with lemon juice.  Stir immediately so the lemon juice will be distributed.  Add in chopped tomatoes, basil, and parmesan cheese.

Stir.  Eat.  Love.

Folks, even though the tuna is tough, it looks and tastes so pretty when paired with that magical couscous.  I might even like this stuff better than my fave Moroccan couscous.  What?!  The sweetness of the tomatoes and basil pair so nicely with the lemony and salty fish.  And the textures...ohhhhh...it's like a fuzzy blanket for my mouth.  It doesn't feel like that at all -- it's just happy and snuggly and mmmmm.

Y'all really should try making some of this stuff.  It's extremely good for you (the only fat is in the tuna, cheese and olive oil, and those still add up to only a small amount; calories come from couscous and tuna, and a little bit from veggies; and it's got at least a serving of veggies in there if you do it right), and oh my, is it ever fantastic.  I can't even imagine how good it would be if I changed the parmesan to feta and made it Opa! Outrageously Good Greek Couscous.  SON.  I'm about to go buy some feta.

So here I sit.  I had two big potholes in my cooking journey, but the couscous and the lovely flavors saved the day.  In celebration, I pledge to eat loads and loads of happy food.  And wait for my plastic headache to go away.