remembrance of flavors past – Pumpkin Mousse Tartlets

With this unusually warm fall weather we’re having on the East Coast, autumn has been at our door steps but never quite passed the threshold and settled into our kitchen. With Halloween behind us and Thanksgiving approaching, I wanted to prepare for the flavors of the coming holidays. So far, I’ve used apples and pears—plus, butternut, acorn, and delicata squashes incorporated into grain salads for healthy meals.

Having grown up in subtropical Hong Kong and then living in California, I couldn’t help but be moved by the changing of seasons I first really experienced in New York. With each season came a change in culinary focus. You can get a lot of produce and ingredients year round to make certain recipes any time, but eating the food associated with the appropriate season makes more sense to me. Fall, being my favorite season, brings thoughts of favorite comfort foods and holiday specialties.

Like some, I was not a fan of pumpkin pie when I first tried it. The unfamiliar flavor profile didn’t do much for me . . . until M’s stories of extended-family holidays and the two aroma-filled days of cooking by his mother, aunts, and grandmother that usually included his favorite pies—apple and pumpkin. Sitting at the children’s table with his cousins didn’t necessarily mean child-size portions.

Pumpkin Mousse Tartlets are a great way to get non-believers to open their mouths for something new. The chocolate tart shell is enough of a temptress, but the luscious pumpkin mousse is infused with orange zest to brighten the earthiness of the pumpkin. Banana lends its natural sweetness to add depth to this seemingly ordinary looking dessert—tartlets that are both elegant and rustic and ready for Thanksgiving.