Pork Tenderloin with Fresh Fig Sauce

From What’s in Season?

 

 

Recipe by Barbara Kobsar | Illustration by Caroline Gould

 

Serves 4

1½ pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed
Kosher salt
Black pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil
1–2 tablespoons butter
6 fresh figs, cut into quarters
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/3 cup chicken stock

Preheat oven to 400°.

Season tenderloin with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and sear pork on all sides. Remove and place on wire rack inside a roasting pan. Roast or 20 to 25 minutes. 

Melt butter over medium heat in medium sauté pan. Add figs and cook for 2 minutes. Remove figs from pan and add vinegar, sugar, and stock. Stir and bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer for 4 to 5 minutes to reduce and thicken the sauce. Return figs to pan and keep warm. Remove pork from oven and let rest 5 minutes. Slice into ½-inch thick rounds and place on a serving platter. Spoon figs around pork and pour sauce over top. Serve.

 

Veteran journalist Barbara Kobsar has authored two cookbooks focusing on traditional home-cooked meals using local produce. You’ll find her each week at the Walnut Creek Farmers’ Market selling her Cottage Kitchen jams and jellies made from farmers’ market produce.

Berkeley-based illustrator and musician Caroline H. Gould is a transplant from Brooklyn, New York. She is especially fond of illustrating desserts. carolinehgould.com