Culinary innovation is often sparked by applying tried and true cooking techniques to different ingredients. Consider the case of tuna lountza. Lountza is a cured pork filet traditionally prepared in Cypriot villages through a process of brining, marinating, and smoking; local spices and hardwoods play an important role in seasoning the meat. Recently cooks at Amorosa, Annabelle’s fine dining restaurant, adapted the recipe for lountza to cure fresh tuna. First, they marinate the tuna in wine, coriander, paprika, and other spices for forty-eight hours. Next, the fish is dry aged for an additional forty-eight hours. Finally, the tuna is smoked over an apple wood fire for a few hours. The result is tuna like you’ve never tasted it before. But innovation does not stop at the smoker—Amorosa’s cooks found a creative way to present the smoked fish with ingredients associated with Asian cuisine. They layer them on, beginning with pickled shimeji mushrooms. Dollops of pureed avocado and wasabi yoghurt sauce add flavour and colour. Next comes a sprinkling of black herring roe. Slices of yellow beet root are shaped into cones and garnished with a dot of avocado puree before being added to the dish with tweezers. Additional Asia-inspired accents include dried nori seaweed and gold tobiko roe. Watercress and other microgreens are tossed lightly in olive oil with salt before the cooks add them to the plate. The Tuna Lountza Salad is just one of many innovative dishes included on the new à la carte menu at Amorosa.
