For whatever reason, unless you’re talking about bacon, I’m not a huge fan of pork. It’s not that I don’t like it, but whenever someone says, “Hey, let’s have pork!” I’m less than enthusiastic.
(Noted after the fact: I was talking to my cousin, Frank, about not eating pork, and he was all, “What about ham? Bacon? BBQ?” And I had to concede that when I say “pork,” I mean more along the lines of chops and loins.)
Because of that, this recipe was my first experience cooking pork. And it was wonderful. I think that if I just made the rest of my meals for the rest of my life out of this cookbook, I’d be happy. It’s flavorful and fragrant and just really, really good.
It took me a long time to make this because I didn’t have toothpicks or twine to hold the thing together while it was cooking. Also, the original recipe includes a fig (instead of pear) compote, but I didn’t think that figs are even in season at the moment, and there were none at Trader Joe’s, so it became a pear compote. And it worked!
Rosemary-Shallot Pork Tenderloin with Pear Compote
Serves 2-3
