You know that old saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover?” I have to admit, the photo of this dish is…unimpressive. At best. The flavor is decidedly not unimpressive. It’s delicious! Add to that the fact that it’s quick and easy to prepare — about 30 minutes from “What’s for dinner?” to “Dinner’s ready!” — and this is one recipe you’ll definitely want to add to your repertoire.

Local pears will be appearing in the farmers’ markets around here any day. I have mixed feelings about cooking with fresh, local, in-season fruit. On the one hand, it’s so good to eat out of hand that it’s almost hard to justify cooking it. On the other hand, anything made with sub-par ingredients will be even tastier with higher-quality fruit. I bought these pears on an impulse at the grocery store a while back. Not the best pears, I’m afraid, but that’s what you get when you go to the market hungry and buy fruit out of season. So they were more suited for adding some spices and turning into dinner. Mind you, it’s spiced but not at all spicy. There’s a hint, just a hint, of kick from the peppercorns, but it’s a mild one that’s balanced nicely by the touch of sweetness from the pears and galangal. It’s not a precarious balance, so feel free to omit the galangal or the finishing salt if you don’t have any.

Ingredients:

1 (1-pound, or 450 g) pork tenderloin

1 teaspoon green peppercorns (use less if you have to substitute black peppercorns)

1 teaspoon ground galangal

½ teaspoon salt

⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom

⅛ teaspoon ground  cinnamon

⅛ teaspoon ground  ginger

pinch saffron

1 Tablespoon olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

3 pears

1 cup water

Saffron finishing salt (optional)

Directions:

1.) Trim the fat and silvery membranes from the pork. Cut the meat horizontally into 1½” (3.8 cm) slices.

2.) With a mortar & pestle, gently tap to crush the green peppercorns. Add the galangal, plain salt, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and saffron, and grind to a powder.

3.) Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of the pork; be careful not to overcrowd. Brown both sides without cooking through. Transfer browned pork to a plate to keep warm and repeat with the other half of the pieces.

4.) While the pork is browning, pare the pears and cut into chunks. (Now I wish I’d only used two pears so I could say, “pare the pair of pears.”) When all the pork has been browned and removed, reduce the heat to medium-low and deglaze the pan with the lemon juice.

5.) Add the pears, water, and spice mixture; stir. Return the pork to the pan and increase the heat to bring to a steady simmer. Cook until pork reaches an internal temperature of 145º F (63º C).

6.) When the pork is done, transfer it to a serving bowl and keep warm. Stirring constantly, cook until the sauce thickens, mashing any large chunks of pear with a fork.

7.) Pour sauce over pork, and dust with finishing salt to serve.