Terrifying Tuna

There's no food that scares me more to prepare than meat. It is unpleasant to eat if it is cooked poorly, leaving you gnawing a hunk of tough and dry hunk of meat for what seems like an eternity. As if that wasn't bad enough, underdone meat can make you sick. To top it all off, handling raw meat is, in a word, gross. At least, I think so. All that to say -- I don't like cooking meat dishes. I don't like handling meat, figuring out what makes it taste good, and the seemingly inevitable failure to turn out a decent slab. Give me legumes any day!

Still, sometimes you just have to face up to your fears and give that daunting challenge your best effort. Over the past few months, the Best Husband Ever has truly outdone himself dishing up some delicious fish fillets. He made tilapia for Valentine's Day, and he's also made some super-delicious salmon. This weekend, he served ahi tuna steaks for a dinner with his family. Since we purchased the tuna from Costco for cost efficiency, we had one big fillet leftover, begging for one of us to do something with.

I saw my chance. Pushing aside all thoughts of how slimy the raw fish would feel, and how it might smell, I hit the internet. Browsing through various websites for inspiration, I finally found a tasty-sounding recipe for citrus-ginger tuna steaks on AllRecipes. I mixed up the sauce and let the fish marinate for about 8 or 9 hours. Instead of grilling the steaks like the recipe called for (we don't have a good grill), I cooked them on the stove top. Due to the tuna's thickness, this may not have been the best choice. The hubby and I were nervous about eating fish that was still pretty raw in the middle, but I also didn't want to overdo the steaks' exteriors. I need not have worrie, though, because the steaks turned out fairly well. I'm not sure what the ideal texture is, but the marinade tasted wonderful. The Best Husband Ever went back for seconds . . . and thirds, which made me feel quite accomplished.

What's the scariest dish you ever made? Or, for that matter, what is the most daunting meal that you haven't made? Why not give it a try? Barring burning your house down in the process, what's the worst that could happen?