BOSTON – There’s nothing quite like a good meal to warm your belly and fill up your soul in the cold winter months. And there’s one chef in Boston giving guests a lot of both at his restaurants.
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Chef Douglass Williams, the owner and chef at MIDA, APIZZA and D.W. French, went to Savenor’s Butchery and Market to find ingredients for his roasted rack of lamb recipe.
Savenor’s has a long history of excellence in the Boston area. The first market opened in 1939 in Cambridge and it was frequently talked about on Julia Child’s popular PBS show.
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Chef Douglass picked up Chantrelles, White Button mushrooms, garlic, shallots and some honey before choosing the perfect cut of lamb.
From there, it’s on to his restaurant MIDA in East Boston, one of the most picturesque in the city, to cook the meal.
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When asked about why he’s created his restaurants his Boston, Chef Douglass said it’s an “insatiable desire to cook for people. I love just having a party every day of the week.”
Chef Douglass recently opened up his latest creation, D.W. French, in the Fenway area.
“D.W. French has all the hits of the brassiere, steak frites, French onion soup, escargot,” he told WBZ-TV. A lot of his meals were highly influenced by his mother’s cooking.
“Even the things we do at MIDA. Making lamb and adding ginger that was just a huge inspiration from my childhood. We didn’t have rack of lamb very much. But we had stews and things that tie back into who I am.”
Here’s the full recipe for Chef Douglass Williams’ roasted rack of lamb:
Chef Douglass Williams
MIDA – APIZZA – DW French
Roasted Rack of Lamb with Ginger Agridulce
Yield: 2 servings
Roasting lamb:
Lamb rack, 6 bones, frenched, from the butcher.
4oz Butter
4oz EVOO
TT Salt
TT Pepper
Mushrooms/vegetable:
1 cup Chanterelles (cleaned)
1 cup white button mushrooms
1 tsp Garlic (minced)
1 tsp shallot (minced)
Ginger Jus:
4 thumbs ginger (sliced)
¼ cup honey (raw if possible)
½ cup white wine
¼ cup neutral vinegar
2 oranges, fresh juice
16 oz fresh Demi glace
1) Start with a cold heavy bottomed pan with the heat off, add the oil and butter. Turn heat to high and wait till butter is foamy and just turning silent as it heats in the pan.
2) Season the lamb liberally and add to the hot pan with foamy butter.
3) Baste in the pan for roughly 10 minutes carefully controlling the rack being sure to cook all sides evenly. (reduce heat slightly if needed)
4) Once cooked till desired, place on a rack to rest and pour over all the hot butter for one last final glaze over the lamb.
Vegetable:
5) Take the same pan and turn back to high heat. Add the sliced mushrooms, garlic and shallot and a touch of the lamb basting fat under the rack.
6) Add a touch of salt and pepper while sauteing, and finish with a touch of fresh lemon juice. About 1 minute.
7) Remove the mushrooms and return pan to heat on high.
Sauce/jus:
8) Add the sliced ginger to the pan. Do not add extra fat to the pan, just simply toast the garlic on high for 2 minutes, rolling around with a spoon back and forth.
9) Pull pan off heat momentarily, add honey, return to heat to begin to boil.
10) Pull pan off heat momentarily, add white wine, away from heat, then put pan back on heat, to bring back to a boil.
11) Once boiling, add vinegar, while heat is still on high, bring to boil again.
12) For the last acidic component, slice and squeeze 2 whole oranges directly into the pan.
13) Lastly immediately add the demi glaze to the pan, bring to a simmer. Simmer till desired taste and viscosity. About 8 minutes.
14) It should be very well balanced, light on the palate, and absolutely scrumptious.
15) Slice lamb, plate the vegetables and sauce as liberally as you would like.
16) Bon appetit!