Waiter, There’s Grilled Pork on My Salad

Pork tenderloin is a tender, lean and flavorful cut of meat. I like it because it is quick-cooking when sliced and versatile. It also takes readily to marinades.

Motivated by a basket of ripe red plum tomatoes on my kitchen counter and a recipe for fried plum tomatoes from cookbook author Susan Herrmann Loomis (“French Farmhouse Cookbook,” Workman, 1996), I decided to prepare a warm salad of rosemary and garlic-crusted pork tenderloin, fried plum tomatoes and mixed green salad vinaigrette.

Loomis recommends frying the plum tomatoes in hot olive oil until the skins are well browned and blistered. Then she turns them and cooks the cut sides until they are well browned. The fried tomatoes are bursting with concentrated tomato essence. They are excellent served either hot as a side dish with steak, chicken or fish or slightly warm or at room temperature as a garnish on this main-dish salad plate. They would also be wonderful in sandwiches or on an antipasto platter.

When I removed the tomatoes from the skillet, the juices and olive oil left in the pan just begged to be soaked up with crusty Italian bread. So I added the bread to the skillet and heated it up, turning it over, until it was lightly browned on both sides and soaked with the luscious juices. I christened the bread Tomato Toast. It is as good as it sounds.

For dessert, serve something cool and simple, like an Italian ice or sorbet.

GARLIC, BLACK PEPPER AND ROSEMARY-CRUSTED PORK TENDERLOIN SALAD

PORK

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons dried rosemary

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

1 (1 1/2-pound) package pork tenderloins, patted dry

SALAD

6 cups mixed salad greens

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

PORK

Combine garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper and olive oil in pie plate or other shallow bowl. Cut small slits on surface of pork, about 1-inch apart. Rub pork thoroughly with garlic mixture. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Grill, broil or pan-fry until well browned and cooked through, 7 to 10 minutes per side, depending on thickness of tenderloin and intensity of heat. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting into thin diagonal slices.

SALAD

Combine salad greens, olive oil, vinegar and salt and pepper to taste in large salad bowl. Toss to coat. Divide salad among 4 dinner plates. Arrange pork slices, slightly overlapping, on top of salad.

4 servings. Each serving:

519 calories; 754 mg sodium; 77 mg cholesterol; 44 grams fat; 5 grams carbohydrates; 28 grams protein; 0.74 gram fiber.

SUSAN HERRMANN LOOMIS’ FRIED PLUM TOMATOES

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed

8 large plum tomatoes, trimmed and halved lengthwise

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Coarse salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

4 to 8 thin diagonal slices French or Italian bread, preferably day-old

Heat olive oil in 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Add just enough plum tomatoes, skin side down, to fill skillet in single layer. Adjust heat to maintain steady sizzle. Sprinkle tomatoes with thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste and cook, without stirring, until skins are blackened and blistered, 10 to 15 minutes.

Carefully turn tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and cook, without stirring, adjusting heat to maintain steady sizzle, until cut sides are browned, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with garlic and cook 2 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer tomatoes to serving dish. Repeat if necessary with remaining tomatoes.

Add bread to oil and tomato juices left in pan. Drizzle with additional olive oil if needed. Cook bread just until lightly browned, turn and cook other side, about 2 minutes per side. Remove from skillet. Serve warm or at room temperature with tomatoes.

4 servings. Each serving:

273 calories; 283 mg sodium; 1 mg cholesterol; 19 grams fat; 23 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 0.52 gram fiber.