Get Cooking With…Will Holland, Head Chef at La Bacasse
A truly innovative craftsman, Michelin starred chef Will Holland is passionate about food. Striving for perfection and originality, his cooking is best described as a modern British interpretation of the classic French repertoire. The result is sublime seasonal dishes using local produce wherever possible with intense flavours, unusual ingredient combinations, innovative techniques and exciting presentation.
Will has worked with some of the country’s leading chefs at a number of prestigious restaurants including Hambleton Hall, Rutland, Hibiscus, Ludlow, L’ortolan, Tom Aikens, The Square and Le Gavroche.
After three years as Head Chef at L’ortolan working with Alan Murchison, Alan purchased the former Hibiscus Restaurant in Ludlow where Will became Head Chef taking on a number of responsibilities and together they re-styled and renamed the now award winning and Michelin star restaurant, La Becasse.
Herb Crumb / Herb Crusted Lamb
Ingredients:
- 300g Bread crumbs (dried weight)
- 6g Thyme leaf (picked)
- 3g Garlic (finely grated)
- 75g Curly parsley (leaf weight)
- 10g Salt
- 30g Light olive oil
Method
This herb crumb recipe is very easy to make. It works well with fish as well as lamb. The fresh parsley rehydrates the dried crumb and makes it slightly moist and a vivid green colour.
Remove the crusts from the bread and cut into rough chunks. Dry completely. Blend in a food processor until fine. Weigh 300g of dried crumb and return to the food processor along with all the remaining ingredients apart from the oil. Blend until fine. Finally add the oil and blend for 5 – 10 seconds. Do not over work the crumb mix once the oil has been incorporated. Store in a sealed container in the fridge until required.
To use the crumb
Cook your desired cut of lamb to your own specification. For the spring and summer season I have been using loin. Once the lamb is cooked, brush it with Dijon mustard. This will act as a ‘glue’ to ‘stick’ the crumb to it! Roll the cooked mustard coated lamb through the herb crumb until it is well coated in the crumb.
Rest the piece of meat as you would do normally. Carve carefully so as to not knock any excess crumb from the lamb. Serve and enjoy…
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