If food could have a theme song, Nova's Deconstructed Tuna Tostadas deserve a Marvin Gaye-esque tune.

  • Nova New American Restaurant is located in Orlando's Ivanhoe Village
  • Restaurant chef fuses Asian and southwestern flavors

The dish is as visually attractive as it is when it hits your tongue.

Chef Valintinus Domingo enjoys fusing Asian and southwestern flavors, admitting that it's not the easiest thing in the world.

"It took us a minute!" he laughed. "Not going to lie."

Chef reminds us to lightly marinate the tuna in soy sauce and sesame oil.

"I wouldn't go anything longer than an hour, because then it would start to become ceviche," he said.

As for the flatbread, you'll discover a beautiful "Spanish version" of pesto: Romesco.

Let's cook!

Deconstructed Tuna Tostadas

Ingredients

4 oz tuna filet
Tuna marinade and dry rub (recipe below)
Flatbread crackers
2 oz wasabi lime emulsion
Thinly sliced watermelon radishes

Tuna Marinade

½ cup low sodium soy sauce
1/8th cup sesame oil
*Combine the ingredients in a small bowl. Marinate the tuna in prep bowl for 30 minutes.

Tuna Dry Rub

Cumin 2T
Chili powder 2T
Black and white sesame seeds 1 tsp each
Paprika 2T

*Mix all the ingredients. After tuna has marinated, rub tuna in dry rub. Sear in hot skillet to desired temperature (rare-medium rare is desired temp). Let rest for 2 minutes and slice thin. Serve with wasabi lime emulsion, flatbread crackers and/or watermelon radishes.

Wasabi Lime Emulsion

Ingredients

Wasabi paste 1/4 cup
Fresh lime juice 1/4 cup
Sriracha 2 tbs
Sweet soy 1 tbs
Garlic 2 cloves
Salt to taste
Honey 2 tbs
EVOO 1 cup

Wasabi Lime Prep

Place wasabi paste, lime juice and garlic in the vitamix then blend until incorporated. Next, add the sriracha and sweet soy. Blend again. After everything has been incorporated, strain through a chinoise. Clean the vitamix. Then place the mixture back in the vitamix blend on medium speed, add the salt and honey then slowly add the EVOO just as you would a vinaigrette. Once everything has been emulsified, place in a container and store properly.

Black and Blue Steak Flatbread

4 oz marinated skirt steak (marinade recipe below)
2 oz caramelized onions and shitake mushrooms
2.5 oz romesco sauce (recipe below)
1T stilton blue cheese
Flatbread
Skirt Steak marinade:
Worcestershire 2 cups
EVOO 1 cups
Paprika 2 tbs
Garlic (minced) 1/4 cup
Shallot (minced) 1/4 cup
Fresh lime juice 1/4 cup

Combine all the ingredients and marinade steak for 1 hour. Sear on very hot skillet for 2.5 minutes on each side. Let rest for 5 minutes and slice into ¼” strips. Spread romesco sauce on flatbread. Top flatbread with caramelized onions and mushrooms, steak. Sprinkle blue cheese over steak and bake in 400 degree oven until cheese is melted and the flatbread is toasty, about 8-10 minutes.

Romesco Sauce

Yield = 9 pan
1/2 onion
1 red bell pepper
1 Tomato
5 garlic cloves
1 hamburger bun
2 1/2 oz toasted almonds
2 Tbsp Parsley
1/2c grapeseed oil
TT salt
TT pepper/sriracha to taste

Char the red bell pepper and set aside. Once cool and/or able to handle, peel the charred skin off the red bell pepper and de-seed. Place in a food processor and set aside. Roast the tomato, garlic and the onion, and toast the almonds and the bun. Add it to the food processor. Puree in food processor and drizzle grapeseed oil until it emulsifies. Season with salt, pepper and sriracha.