ZARİF KITCHEN | OCTOBER 2026
🎃 French-Inspired Velvety Pumpkin Soup
Celeriac, Ginger, Turmeric & Sage Brown Butter
Serves 6
INGREDIENTS
1 kg pumpkin, peeled and cleaned
80–100 g celeriac
2 shallots
1 small garlic clove
8–10 g fresh ginger
¼–½ teaspoon turmeric
1 litre good-quality chicken stock
80 ml cream (set aside a few spoonfuls for serving)
2 tablespoons olive oil
40 g butter (15 g for the pot, 25 g for the brown butter)
6–8 fresh sage leaves
White pepper and salt
METHOD
Cut the pumpkin into large wedges. Toss with olive oil and a very little salt, then roast at 200°C for about 25–30 minutes, until the edges are lightly caramelised. Once out of the oven, remove the skin; set aside a few small cubes for garnish. This stage matters: roasting the pumpkin rather than boiling it concentrates its flavour.
Melt 15 g of the butter in a pot. Add the finely chopped shallots and soften them without letting them colour. Add the celeriac, cut into small cubes, and stir for a few minutes. Add the grated fresh ginger, garlic and turmeric and stir for just 30–40 seconds, until fragrant.
Add the roasted pumpkin and the hot chicken stock. Cook over a low-to-medium heat for about 15 minutes. Blend with a hand blender until completely smooth. Then add the cream and balance with salt and white pepper. If needed, loosen the consistency with a little hot chicken stock.
THE SIGNATURE TOUCH
In a small pan, brown the remaining 25 g of butter until it foams and begins to smell nutty. Drop in the sage leaves and let them crisp for a few seconds. Once the soup is ladled into bowls, draw a fine ring with the reserved cream, place the roasted pumpkin cubes in the centre, drizzle over the brown butter and finish with the crisp sage.
🍗 Chicken with Chestnuts & Wild Mushrooms
With Shallots, Thyme and a Dijon Sauce
Serves 6
INGREDIENTS
600 g boneless chicken breast
500 g boneless chicken thigh
250 g chestnut (brown) mushrooms
20–25 g dried porcini or 150 g fresh aromatic mushrooms
200 g chestnuts, cooked and peeled
8–10 shallots
2 garlic cloves
500 ml chicken stock
100 ml cream
1 heaped dessert spoon Dijon mustard
3–4 sprigs fresh thyme
30 g butter
1½ tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
METHOD
If you are using dried porcini, soak them in hot water for 15 minutes before you begin, then drain and chop. Pass the soaking liquid through a fine sieve and set it aside.
Leave the chicken in whole pieces; if the breasts are very thick, you can cut them in half. Season with salt and pepper.
Heat a wide pan thoroughly. Add the olive oil and half the butter, and sear the chicken in several batches without crowding the pan. It need not be cooked through; a lovely golden colour on the outside is all you are after. Transfer the chicken to a separate plate.
Add the remaining butter to the same pan. Turn the shallots for a few minutes, until lightly caramelised. Add the mushrooms and sauté over a high heat until they take on colour. Add the garlic, thyme and chopped porcini.
Return the chicken to the pan. Add the chicken stock and a few spoonfuls of the porcini liquid; scrape up the caramelised bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Simmer gently for about 15 minutes. Then add the chestnuts. We don't add the chestnuts at the very start, as we don't want them to break apart and turn to purée.
Mix the Dijon mustard with the cream and stir it into the dish. Cook for another 5–7 minutes, until the sauce turns glossy and lightly thickened, coating the chicken.
Finally, check the seasoning for salt and pepper.
🎃 Pumpkin Crème Brûlée
An Autumnal Touch on a French Classic
Serves 6
Here, the silken texture of the classic French crème brûlée meets the warm autumn flavour of pumpkin. Vanilla, the faintest hint of cinnamon and nutmeg balance the pumpkin's natural sweetness, while orange zest leaves a fresh note on the finish. At the end, when the whisper-thin layer of sugar is caramelised with a blowtorch, that signature crisp surface appears, cracking at the first touch of the spoon.
Ingredients
For the pumpkin purée
250 g pumpkin, peeled and cleaned
1 dessert spoon butter
For the crème brûlée
400 ml cream
5 large egg yolks
65 g caster sugar
120 g prepared pumpkin purée
1 vanilla pod
(or 1 dessert spoon good-quality natural vanilla extract)
½ teaspoon very finely grated orange zest
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 small pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1 small pinch salt
For the caramelised top
5–6 tablespoons fine caster sugar
To serve — optional
A few fresh raspberries
A few blueberries
Thinly sliced strawberries
A few small fresh mint leaves
Edible violets
A very little coarsely ground pistachio
A delicate caramel tuile
A very little red berry coulis
The garnishes are not an essential part of the recipe; they can be used to achieve the French pâtisserie presentation seen in our photographs.
Method
1. Roast the pumpkin
Cut the pumpkin into pieces of roughly 2–3 cm. Brush them very lightly with butter and arrange on a tray lined with baking paper.
Roast in an oven preheated to 190°C for 25–30 minutes, until completely tender and the edges begin to caramelise slightly.
We don't boil the pumpkin. That way it takes on no extra water and its flavour is concentrated.
Blend the roasted pumpkin into a completely smooth purée. For a more refined crème brûlée texture, pass the purée through a fine sieve.
Measure out exactly 120 grams of the purée.
2. Prepare the vanilla cream
Pour the cream into a small saucepan.
Split the vanilla pod lengthways. Scrape out the seeds with the back of a knife and add them to the cream. Put the pod into the pan as well.
Add the orange zest, cinnamon and a very small pinch of nutmeg.
Warm the cream slowly over a low-to-medium heat. Do not let it boil. Take it off the heat as soon as small bubbles appear around the edges.
Leave it to stand for about 10 minutes so the aromas infuse the cream. Then remove the vanilla pod.
3. Prepare the egg yolks
In another bowl, mix the 5 egg yolks with the 65 g of sugar.
The key point here is not to whisk the mixture until frothy as you would for a classic sponge. Using a whisk, stir gently only until the sugar and yolks come together.
Add the 120 g of pumpkin purée and stir until smooth and even.
4. Combine with the cream
Pour the warm vanilla cream into the pumpkin and egg mixture little by little, not all at once.
Stir continuously and gently as you go. This way the hot cream won't cook the eggs.
Add a small pinch of salt.
Once everything is fully combined, pass the whole crème brûlée mixture through a fine sieve.
This stage matters: in the end we want an exceptionally smooth, silken custard with no pumpkin fibres.
5. Fill the dishes
Divide the mixture evenly between 6 shallow crème brûlée ramekins.
If air bubbles have formed on the surface, lift them off with the tip of a small spoon.
Place the ramekins in a deep-sided baking tray.
6. Prepare the bain-marie
Carefully pour hot water into the tray. The water should come roughly halfway up the outside of the ramekins.
On no account should any water get into the crème brûlée mixture.
This bain-marie method keeps the custard from direct exposure to high heat, so that it cooks far more evenly and creamily.
7. Bake
Carefully place the tray in an oven preheated to 150°C.
Bake for about 30–35 minutes.
Here it matters more to check the texture than to follow the clock. The edges should be set, but the centre should wobble slightly when you gently move the ramekin.
The crème brûlée should not become completely firm in the oven.
8. Chill
Lift the ramekins out of the hot water bath and let them come to room temperature.
Then transfer them to the fridge.
Leave them to rest for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.
This time allows the pumpkin custard to reach a true crème brûlée consistency.
9. Caramelise 🔥
Just before serving, take the cold crème brûlées out of the fridge.
Spread about 1 tablespoon of fine caster sugar evenly over the surface of each, taking care not to make the layer too thick.
Melt the sugar with a kitchen blowtorch, keeping it moving constantly over the surface.
The sugar will first melt, then turn into a thin, glossy layer of amber-gold caramel.
Don't hold the torch on one spot for long; our aim is not to reheat the cream, only to caramelise the sugar on top.
Wait about 1 minute for the caramel to harden.
10. Presentation
Crème brûlée is, in truth, a complete French dessert even without garnish. For the more elaborate final presentation in our magazine, however, a few raspberries, blueberries and a thin slice of strawberry can be placed on a small section of the caramel top.
A small edible violet, tiny mint leaves, a few pistachio shards and a delicate caramel tuile may be added. A very carefully measured amount of red berry coulis can also be used around the plate.
It is important not to overdo the garnish here; the true star is the pumpkin crème brûlée with its glossy, crisp caramel top.
