Five Spice Duck with Chili Crisp

Rachel and I rediscovered chili crisp a few months ago, and there is no turning back now.

I grew up eating a family recipe version of this chinese condiment. I remember enjoying it, but it faded from memory when I went 20+ years without encountering it. Recently, a friend gave us a jar of chili crisp, and we have proceeded to go through multiple jars a week since.

Chili crisp is just dried chilis and other crispy bits (onions, fermented soy beans, peanuts, etc) in chili oil. It's a spicy, savory, rich, crunchy sauce that is really good on almost anything. Perfect for quick meals, which have been the norm around here this season.

For this dish, I season the duck breasts with salt, sichuan pepper and 5 spice powder. Pan roast to a medium rare, dress some chinese egg noodles (udon, soba, or lo mein would all be great substitutes) and greens with chili crisp and call it a day.

Five Spice Duck with Chili Crisp

Servings: around 2

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

2 duck breasts, skin on

1 tsp 5 spice powder

2 tsp sichuan peppercorn, crushed

Chinese egg noodles

Chinese mustard greens

4-6 tbsp chili crisp

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F. 

Boil water for noodles.

Season both sides of the duck breasts with salt, sichuan pepper, and 5 spice.

Put seasoned duck breasts, skin side down in an unheated, heavy bottomed pan. Place over burner and set to medium. 

Allow the skin side of breasts to render and brown, about 5-8 minutes. Rotate and place in the oven for 3-5 minutes. Pull from the oven when the internal temperature reaches ~125F. Remove from pan and allow to rest.

Cook the noodles according to package directions. Strain and toss with a little oil.

Saute greens in the same pan that you used to cook the duck, season with salt and pepper and a splash of soy sauce and sesame oil if desired.

Toss the greens and noodles together, dress with chili crisp.

Thinly slice duck crossgrain, serve over noodles and greens. 

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