Ingrediences:

Potatoes (we used about 8 medium sized ones for two people)
3/4l of Water
Instant broth
Something to give some taste (I used classic german "Kochwurst", thick little sausages, strong in taste and made to be cut into hearty soups or to be eaten with all kinds of cabbages.)

How to:
Pretty easy. Cook the potates. once they´re done, add water and instant broth and smash them real good. We used the immersion blender. Make sure you don´t overdo it, though, because then you don´t get soup but some kind of sticky glue...
Also, I like to keep it a bit... lumpy. But since my sis doesn´t like potato lumps this one is pretty creamy. Sigh.
Cut the sausage in bite size pieces, add to the soup, add some salt and pepper and tadaaa: Potato Soup. Yes, easy. But: Be careful with the salt if your using instant broth!
The blackish stuff you see in the picture? It´s soy sauce. While I know some people who would eat anything with soy sauce (*cough*Jens*cough*), I think it does make soups better.

Yesterday we had the yummy chinese style corn soup that we made here and that has since become one of my favorites.

Instead of studying like I should I´ll tell you what we had for dinner last night:

Crispy Duck Breast

We wanted to make this for christmas but then we changed our plans and had my mom cook instead but we still had everything for it here and in the end we ate it on a regular monday which made the day still seem special. Nice.

Ingrediences:

2 Duck breasts

Potatoes

Sugar

Chestnuts

Salt & Pepper

Butter

Flour

Cream (or a subsitute)

Water

First things first: Cut crosses in the chestnutpeel and put them in the oven at a very high temperature. I used 250°C and let them in for about half an hour (the oven was not preheated). Keep an eye on them, you don´t want them all hardened and burnt. Let them cool, then peel them. Set aside for later. ( I actually made them in the afternoon because peeling hot roasted chestnuts is only fun when you´re outside in the snow and your hands are frozen anyways...)

Cook the potatoes in water, don´t salt them. Once they´re halfway done you can start with the duck.

I used frozen duck breasts because they are cheaper so I guess if you don´t have the time to breed and raise, then shoot and prepare your own duck, any kind of store bought is fine.

I rinsed the blood off, dried them, them cleaned the skin from any remains of the feathers.

Then cut little diamonds into the fatty skin. Be careful not to cut into the meat.

(Why diamonds? Why not into the meat? Diamonds because they´re pretty... No really, the fat will melt and tighten when heated and unless you want the whole thing to curl up you better cut into it so that only the little diamonds will get smaller. And the meat will bleed out and loose precious meatjuice if cut.)

Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F.

Now heat up a pan but no oil, fat, grease whatsoever. Once it´s hot, place the chicken breasts with the skinside down into it and let it fry for 5 minutes. You´ll be amazed how much fat gets out! Well, I sure was.
Then turn around and fry (Deep fry, really. There´s so much fat!) the skinless side for 2 minutes.
Now place the duck breasts into little tinfoil boats. Well, just make sure you wrap them into tinfoil so that only the skin looks out, everything else must be wrapped. This makes the skin extra crispy.

Put them into the oven for 10 Minutes then turn off the heat and let them sit inside the oven for another 5 Minutes.

Meanwhile:

I used the leftover fat from the pan for a extra good gravy. I just threw some spoonfulls of flour on it, mixed that well, then added cream (a fat reduced subsitute, really...) and then some water. Stir, add salt and pepper, let sit.

Get rid of the potato water.

Cut chestnuts. I cut them into four pieces each but go with how small you like them.

Dissolve butter in the pot you boiled the potatoes in. Add Sugar. I used about 50g butter(?) and 5 TS Sugar but it depends on how sweet you like it, on how many potatoes you have and on how strict your diet is, I guess.

Let sugar and butter melt together, when it starts to get brownish take it off the heat and throw potatoes and chestnuts in. Make sure every potato gets some sugarbutter.
Take the ducks out of the oven and cut them into strips, bite size pieces, whatever you like.
There´s gonna be quite some meatjuice inside the little tinfoil boats and I just added that into the gravy.
Put on plate, serve to someone you like. Way too good to waste on people you don´t.

Looks long, is not. Took me about half an hour, maybe a little longer counting in the chestnuts.

Duckie breasts, all naked. Hehe...

Fat skin cut into diamonds.

Don´t they look great in the pan already? And see all that fat? I told you!

Wrapped in tinfoil.

Pretty chestnuts. My favorite winter-treat.

Caramel potatoes with chestnuts. Tastes as good as it sounds.

Super heavy gravy looking good in the pan.

The perfect color inside.

Anyone has any good recipes with chestnuts to share? I´d love to try...

Finally some cooking again.

And that´s it.
My only good note for this one is that if you keep ginger in the freezer it grates much easier than it does fresh. It peels really easy and you don´t have to fight the fibre-thingies that usually are a pain in the ass...

So Gesa: anytime again. It was delicious and fun. We´ll try baking next, right? Yay!