My dad - where do I begin? As you already know, I was adopted by the Williams family when I was 15. There have always been questions as to who my biological father was, but not for me, my only father is Dick Williams.
My dad is wonderfully wacky, creative and devoutly loyal, but mostly I love him for his desire to protect me from things in my life that were painful to me when I was a child. My biological mother had issues with seeing me in a happy family even when she couldn’t provide one for my brothers and me. When my great grandmother (gram) died, I went to live with a family that knew my gram. My biological mother went to them and threatened that if anything were to happen to me, that she would sue them for their business and everything they had. Terrible I know, but I promise there is a happy ending. Anyway, this family had children of their own so they asked me to leave. I went to live with my teenage brothers. When the Williams family asked me to move in with them, my biological mother thought it was time to pay a visit to them with the same threat, what she didn’t know is my dad wasn’t the type to be threatened.
She strolled up to the door, knocked on it and proceeded to tell my dad that it would be a shame if they lost everything if anything were to happen to me. Well instead of being concerned for himself, he made it crystal clear to her that her threats weren’t going to work and that I was a Williams to stay. Well, this abrupt, and as I understand it, stern reply, scared her so much she ran away and never tried to interfere in my life in a negative way again. I know it sounds weird, but no one had ever stood up for me that way, it made me so loved to know my dad was there for me in this very meaningful way. I am sooooo blessed. I love you Dad!
On to the eats!
 | This cabbage is nice and sweet with the pork, so even your kids will eat it, you can leave out the red pepper flakes if you don’t like the heat. This recipe was adapted from a recipe given to me by one of my chefs, Chef Mike Riley. Chef Riley has been in the business for over 20 years and is one of my favorites… Enjoy! |
Sweetened CabbageServes 4
1 slice of bacon, diced
2 tablespoons of sweet onions (Vidalia if in season), minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups cabbage cut into strips
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons white wine
½ cup chicken stock (Chef Riley uses veal stock, its better if you can find it)
2 tablespoons of sugar
Take bacon and cook in sauté pan over medium heat, remove bacon from pan when done.
Sweat onions in pant until translucent and add garlic.
Add cabbage and cook until it starts to soften.
You will notice specs on the bottom of your pan where food has stuck, we call this suc.
We are going to add the vinegar and wine to deglaze the pan and add the flavor from the suc to the cabbage.
Mix the chicken stock and sugar in a separate bowl.
Once the vinegar/wine mixture is cooked away add the chicken stock mixture and reduce the heat to low and simmer the cabbage until soft.
Add bacon and red pepper flakes for bites of kick throughout your dish.
Pork
4 boneless pork chops cut from a loin, cut thin, about 3/8”
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons white wine
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ cup chicken stock
Take pork and lightly pound to about ¼” thickness.
Sprinkle pork with Kosher salt and black pepper.
In a sauté pan over high heat, add canola oil and allow oil to heat for one minute.
Add pork and sauté on both sides until the pork browns, by browning the pork you are adding flavor to the meat. Remove pork from pan and reserve.
The pork will have left suc at the bottom of the pan to build the flavors in the sauce.
Mix together the white balsamic vinegar and white wine and add to pan, if you swirl with a spatula you will start to see the suc release from the bottom of the pan.
Mix brown sugar and chicken stock in a separate bowl.
Once the vinegar/wine mixture cooks away, add the chicken stock mixture and reduce until the sauce is nappe. This means that when you take a spoon with sauce on it, and run your finger thru the sauce, the sauce holds form.
Add the sauce around your dish for easy dipping.
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