1. take out puff pastry shells to thaw.
2. cut lobster tails in half, longways. lay your knife pointing downward at the center of the tail & pierce down, then cut through (be careful as the shell is rounded).
4. heat butter in a large pan over medium to medium-high heat. place tails, meat-side down, in hot butter & sauté about 2 minutes per side (don’t cook through entirely as we will continue to cook later). take out tails & set side on a plate.
5. pour brandy/cognac into the pan to deglaze the surface & scrape any browned bits off of the bottom of the pan with a spatula. cook til alcohol is reduced by half, about 1 min. remove from heat.
6. preheat oven to 425F.
8. pull meat from shells & roughly chop lobster meat (save the shells for plating, otherwise discard them). pour any accumulated lobster juices from the plate into butter brandy/cognac mixture in the pan.
10. whisk cream, eggs yolks, nutmeg, cayenne pepper & a pinch of salt together in a bowl.
11. cut the center of one puff pastry shell, leaving just the outer shell ‘ring’. using your egg whites, coat the surface of a whole puff pastry shell then stack the ‘ring’ on top to form a bowl. coat the top of the puff pastry bowl & excess pastry with egg whites. set your pastry bowls on a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicon mat & bake for 18min.
13. whisk cream mixture into pan mixture, return pan low to medium-low heat, & cook, stirring constantly, til sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 3 to 7 min (if you don’t stir the cream will cook through & create clumping). stir lobster into sauce & cook til heated through. season with parsley & salt to taste if needed.
14. plate by pouring the lobster & sauce into your puff pastry bowl. top with parsley. if plating with shells, cut the legs & rinse before doing so.
