Smoked Sturgeon Napoleon With Caviar Cream And A Lemon Gastrique

For the Lemon Gastrique: Combine champagne vinegar and sugar in a medium non-reactive saucepan and bring to a boil. Continue to cook until sugar has melted and liquid has reduced to nappe consistency and coats the back of a spoon, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove to a non-reactive bowl, stir in the lemon zest, and set aside to cool to room temperature before drizzling over Smoked Sturgeon Napoleons with Caviar Cream. Can be made well in advance and refrigerated until ready to use, but should be returned to room temperature before serving.

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out puff pastry to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Using cookie cutter or a very sharp knife, cut pastry into 12 3-inch portions of the desired shape. Place pastry pieces on top of a sheetpan which is covered with parchment paper, cover pastry with another sheet of parchment paper and top with another sheetpan of the same size. Bake in a preheated oven until crispy and golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove pastry from oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Set aside until ready to assemble napoleons.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer whip heavy cream and lemon zest to soft peaks. Season with salt and pepper and carefully fold in caviar.

On 4 appetizer plates, arrange one piece of baked puff pastry on top of a half teaspoon of Caviar Cream (this will anchor the Napoleon). Divide smoked sturgeon into 8 portions. Top each piece of puff pastry with 2 tablespoons of Caviar Cream and one of the portions of smoked sturgeon. Top with another piece of puff pastry and repeat layering process, ending with a piece of puff pastry. Drizzle each Napoleon with Lemon Gastrique and serve immediately, garnished with chopped chives, any extra Caviar Cream. and a bit of caviar if any is left!