(^10)
7
stirring occasionally, until very al dente (2
minutes less than package directions for
al dente). Drain pasta in a colander;
reserve 1^1 / 2 cups cooking liquid in a small
heatproof bowl. Add a small drizzle of oil
to pasta in colander; toss gently to coat.
- Cook oil and garlic in a large, deep
skillet over medium, stirring often, until
lightly toasted, about 4 minutes. Add
capers and black pepper; cook, stirring
often, 2 minutes. Add 1 cup reserved
pasta cooking liquid; bring to a boil over
medium. Stir in cooked pasta, and return
to a boil over medium; cook until pasta is
al dente, 3 to 4 minutes, adding up to^1 / 4
cup reserved pasta cooking liquid until
desired sauce consistency is reached.
Remove from heat. - While stirring pasta mixture vigorously
using a wooden spoon, pour egg yolks
in a quick stream into mixture; stir until
slightly creamy, about 10 seconds. While
stirring vigorously, quickly add cheese
and chives; stir until sauce is creamy and
silky, about 20 seconds. Gently stir in
crab and lemon zest and juice. Season to
taste with fine sea salt or kosher salt. (If
needed, add additional pasta cooking liq-
uid to loosen sauce.) Divide pasta mixture
evenly among 4 shallow bowls; garnish
with additional cheese. Serve with garlic
bread and lemon wedges.
WINE Citrusy Sicilian white: 2018
Donnafugata SurSur Grillo
SUMMER CRAB CARBONARA
WITH LEMON AND CAPERS
TOTAL 35 MIN; SERVES 4Douglass Williams’ method for carbonara
allows you to hold the cooked pasta before
adding it to the garlic oil and pasta cook-
ing liquid emulsion. It makes for a simple,
creamy carbonara without the stress.12 oz. uncooked bucatini pasta
1 / 2 cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2 Tbsp. finely chopped garlic
1 / 4 cup drained and rinsed capers,
chopped
1 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
6 large egg yolks, beaten
3 oz. pecorino Romano cheese,
grated (about^3 /^4 cup), plus more for
garnish
1 / 2 cup thinly sliced fresh chives
8 oz. fresh Jonah, blue, or stone
crabmeat, picked over
1 Tbsp. grated lemon zest plus 1
Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Fine sea salt or kosher salt, to taste
Garlic bread and lemon wedges, for
serving- Fill a large pot with water to 2 inches
from top of pot; generously salt water.
Bring to a boil over high. Stir in pasta, and
return to a boil over high. Cook pasta,
OUGLASS WILLIAMS is a master
of texture, almost at a molecular
level. It’s apparent throughout
the menu at Mida, Williams’
Italian restaurant on the bor-
der of Boston’s affluent South End and Roxbury, an
African American neighborhood. Just take a look
at the polenta, tender bricks fried until crunchy,
then crowned with a dollop of sweet Gorgonzola
dolce, lemon zest, and a generous drizzle of honey.
The outside remains crisp; the inside, enriched with
Parmesan and olive oil, is incredibly creamy.
His obsession with texture stems from his long
battle with Crohn’s disease. When he turned 16, he
could no longer eat. Williams, a longtime athlete,
had to have surgery to remove six inches of his intes-
tinal tract. “I couldn’t eat sugar; I couldn’t eat gluten;
I couldn’t eat anything processed at all,” Williams
recalls. Still, when it came time to decide what to
do after graduation, he enrolled in culinary school.
“Cooking filled this void for me,” Williams says. “It
was the most physical thing that I could find outside
of sports.” Plus, a career in restaurants felt natural:
His African American father was a chef, his Syrian
Lebanese mother a waitress. But how do you go to
cooking school when you can’t eat? While Williams
couldn’t swallow the food he cooked, he could still
chew. He would analyze each flavor and each nuance
of a food’s texture before spitting it out into a trash
can. “It really helped me form my palate.”
After culinary school, Williams spent time healing
his body and working in prestigious kitchens along
the East Coast, but he fell in love with the preci-
sion and technique of making pasta while work-
ing at Boston’s Coppa. His first restaurant, Mida,
a temple to carbohydrates, is where Williams and
his team make nearly 700 portions of pasta each
week by hand. He makes mounds of flat, stubby rib-
bons called maltagliati that await a generous ladle of
earthy duck sugo; these sit next to expertly shaped
cappellacci, which look like tortellini wearing fancy
hats and are plump with a stuffing of fresh ricotta.
Williams also makes thick, wide tubes of paccheri,
which are served in a rich Bolognese with bits of
broccoli rabe for a bitter punch. The pasta is gar-
nished with caramelized breadcrumbs that have
been tossed with a glug of good olive oil, oregano,
and salty Parmigiano-Reggiano. Each bite is a tex-
tural roller coaster of chewy, crunchy, and fatty—an
expression of care and precision from someone who
takes none of food’s great pleasures for granted.D
i see a future where
TECHNOLOGY IS MORE
INTEGRATED INTO A
RESTAURANT to expand a
restaurant’s reach and create
revenue streams. i think this
will give us more stability.”
—douglass williams