This is one of those recipes that I just keep going back to. The fig-balsamic combination is nothing new, but that’s because these two flavors compliment each other so beautifully. This is a perfect weeknight meal - pork tenderloin cooks incredibly quickly, but is also fancy enough to serve to company (sigh…remember company?) Roast some potatoes and broccoli on a sheet pan while you’re doing the rest of the work, and you have a complete meal in just about 30 minutes.

Balsamic Fig Pork Tenderloin

• 2 tablespoon olive oil, divided

• 1 ½ pound pork tenderloin

• 1 shallot, diced

• 1 sprig fresh rosemary or ½ teaspoon dried

• 2 tablespoons fig jam

• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

• ½ cup chicken broth

• 1 tablespoon butter

• salt and pepper

To Make:

1. Preheat oven to 425

2. Heat a large oven-safe skillet over medium high heat, and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. When oil is shimmering, add the pork and sear, turning every minute or two to brown all 4 sides. This should take about 4-8 minutes total. Transfer the skillet to the oven, and roast until cooked through, about 12-14 minutes, or until internal temperature registers 140 degrees.* If you don’t have an oven safe skillet, you can transfer the pork to a foil lined baking sheet once browned, and cook the pork on that - just make sure you don’t wash the skillet yet.

3. Once the pork is done, remove from the skillet, and let rest while you make the sauce.

4. Heat the 2nd tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet used to cook pork, and add the shallot and rosemary. Cook, stirring, until the shallot is softened - about 2-3 minutes. Add the jam, vinegar and chicken broth, and stir to combine. Let the sauce simmer 2-3 minutes until slightly reduced, then add the butter, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

5. Slice pork thinly crosswise, and drizzle the sauce over pork.

*Just a note about pork cooking times and temperatures. If you cook your pork to 140 and then let it rest for 5-10 minutes, it will still be slightly pink in the middle. That is fine. I don’t know about you, but I grew up in the 90’s when we were all told that eating pork that wasn’t fully well done was basically a death sentence, and as a result we all ate terrible dried out pork for our entire childhoods; and there is almost nothing worse than well done pork.