Summer Recipe: Napoleon of Fresh Berries and Strawberry Coulis

Berry season is here and this recipe is the perfect way to highlight the flavor.  We first made this recipe on Capital Cooking's French Style Cuisine with Chef Paul Stearman from Marcel's.

1 sheet Puff pastry

10x sugar

Strawberries

Raspberries

Blueberries

Blackberries

Lemon curd

Pastry cream

Lemon juice

Mint 

Roll Puff pastry extremely thin with 10x sugar, bake between silpats for 15 min at 300 degrees.

Slice the berries and stack between the puff cookies, pastry cream on first layer lemon curd in second layer,  Place some strawberry coulis on the plate, sprinkle some 10x sugar, and sliced mint.

For The Strawberry Coulis:
1/2 pint fresh strawberries, stemmed and rinsed, or 10 ounces frozen strawberries
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon, or to taste

In a blender or food processor, puree strawberries with sugar and lemon juice. Taste and add more sugar or lemon juice as needed. Strain seeds from strawberries, if desired.

Lemon curd

3 large eggs

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons)

3/4 cup granulated white sugar

1 tablespoon finely shredded lemon zest

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into small pieces

In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice until blended. Cook, stirring constantly (to prevent it from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick. This will take approximately 10 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately pour through a fine strainer to remove any lumps. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk into the mixture until the butter has melted. Add the lemon zest and let cool.  The lemon curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Cover immediately (so a skin doesn't form) and refrigerate for a week.

Pastry Cream

2C Milk
6 egg yolks
5 oz Sugar
1-1/2 oz cornstarch
vanilla

Bring milk and vanilla to a boil (making sure it doesn’t boil over).  In a separate bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until well combined.  Whisk in cornstarch and mix thoroughly.  Temper in the milk and return to the saucepan over heat.  Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens and you cook out the flavor of the raw cornstarch.  It will briefly get lumpy when it begins to thicken, but just continue whisking.  It will smooth out.  Transfer pastry cream to a bowl and rub the surface with a stick of butter to prevent a skin from forming.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until it sets up. 

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