Grilled pork tenderloin with figs

Usually I just use Epicurious as a last resort, but I had a hankering for pork tenderloin and it was the easiest way to find a recipe. I experimented by searching on the iPad app and found that Epicurious has a really good interface on devices. The recipes are clear and the shopping list feature is great. Unfortunately, Epicurious has adopted an ill-advised policy of charging $1.99 to sync. So I had to download the recipe to my iPad and then separately to iPhone. Obviously, the phone is a lot handier in the store.

The pork tenderloin recipe was great! Very simple. Just brush the tenderloin with olive oil, salt and pepper and pop on the grill, turning for about 10 minutes, to an internal temperature of 140 degrees. Meanwhile, put the ripe figs on a pre-soaked wooden skewer and grill them until pulpy and caramelized. Slice the pork and drizzle honey over it, and sprinkle chopped rosemary and crumbled goat cheese on it. Serve with the grilled figs.

At the store, I liked the look of the escarole so searched Epicurious for an appropriate recipe. The fourth or fifth selection was a variation on the classic spinach salad, putting bacon, chopped eggs, and a warm vinaigrette on the escarole. Crisp a couple of slice of bacon and crumble. Saute chopped shallot in the bacon grease until soft and whisk in a vinaigrette of 1/4 c. olive oil and 3 Tbl. white balsamic vinegar (I didn't have white so used the fig and meyer lemon balsamic that we had). Season the vinaigrette and drizzle over the escarole, then sprinkle the bacon, chopped hard-boiled egg, and goat cheese over it.

The sweet and sour of the vinaigrette and the salty of the bacon counterbalanced the bitterness of the escarole and the salad perfectly matched the pork and figs. The wonderful Niman Ranch pork was so tender and complemented well by the honey and figs. I had never grilled figs before, and they gave up a great aroma on the grill.

All in all, a very successful experiment. Look for more Epicurious app recipes!