This napoleon rules

(food styling/debra samuels; wiqan ang for the boston globe)

Some desserts, like one I was served recently in Italy, are stunning on the plate. In this case, triangles of puff pastry were set into a pool of vanilla custard sauce. Tiny strawberries were strewn around the dish, which was decorated with zig zags of chocolate.

In fact, this impressive confection is a deconstructed napoleon, the multilayered classic made with three rectangles of puff pastry sandwiched with pastry cream, often with fruit, too. But when you eat this typically French sweet, your fork moves through the top layer of pastry, sending the cream oozing in all directions.

So the modern Italian version was beautiful and practical. You can re-create the dish using frozen puff pastry cut into squares and making vanilla custard sauce.

The sauce can be tricky. Use a heavy bottomed saucepan and don't leave the stove. A few extra seconds on the heat can give you a curdled mass. If that happens, quickly pour the custard into a blender and whir it. That may bring the sauce back.

On the plate, you'll need a spoon to scrape up every bit of sauce. Unless you want to lick the plates. We couldn't do that at the restaurant in Italy. But home is another matter. -- DEBRA SAMUELS