This has definitely become one of my favorite preparations for duck breast. I first tried it in DC over the holidays at my MiL's house, but both of us had difficulties with the prescribed cooking time. I botched it twice, and with the price of boneless duck breasts I was about to give up on the recipe entirely.

I gave it a couple more shots and I've come away from it very pleased. Turns out if you use a duck breast twice the size of the one the recipe calls for it's going to take a little longer to cook.

The five spice combination of star anise, clove, cinnamon, anise seed, and Sichuan peppercorn is the perfect accompaniment to the richness of the duck breast. The sesame noodles are flavored just enough to please, but simply enough to complement the rich, aggressive flavor of the duck.

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After eating that delicious roasted duckling last night I shredded the rest of the meat off the bones to make some fried rice. This is actually the first time I've ever made fried rice, and to be honest, I was a little intimidated. It seemed so complicated for some reason...a reason that I'm unsure of what it actually was.

It was easy peasy. Seriously. I see lots of fried rice in our future.

The key, apparently, is "overnight rice." Yesterday when Husband declared he wanted white rice with the roasted duckling, as opposed to the lovely roasted fingerling potatoes and zucchini I wanted to pair it with, I simply tossed double the amount I normally would in the rice cooker and threw it in the fridge overnight.

Obviously the ingredients for fried rice vary greatly; I can definitely see this as one of those 'clean out the veggie shelf' recipes. So awesome.

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