Guest star

This is a first: the dish I'm writing about is not one I made myself. The Boyfriend made it. Friends sometimes ask us whether we take turns in cooking. Actually, we don't. Not because of some traditional role model we cling to or because the Boyfriend can't cook, nothing like that. It's just - I love cooking so much that I happily do it every day. It's a good thing the Boyfriend a) loves to eat and b) is not that wild about cooking himself. One day a few weeks ago, however, I was running late so he offered to cook whatever I had had in mind for that evening. With a few instructions from me given over the cell phone and the recipe ripped out of another glossy, he made the most amazing

Pork tenderloin with plums and port (serves 2)

You'll need:
- 300-350g pork tenderloin, cut into medallions
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 red onion, finely sliced
- 8-10 plums, halved
- salt and pepper
- 1.5 dl port (tawny port, the dark, sweet kind)
- a few tablespoon chicken stock (optional)

Put a small gratin dish into the oven and preheat to 80°. If there is space, put in the plates you will use as well. Heat the olive oil in lidded frying pan and fry the pork medallions from both sides over a medium heat until browned. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm in the preheated dish in the oven. Add the onion to the pan and cook over gentle heat until softened, stirring as it cooks. You might want to add a tablespoon of water in order to dissolve the sediment left by the meat. Add the plums to the onion and cook for five minutes over a low heat, covered. Return the meat to the pan, adding the juice that might have been released and check the seasoning, maybe add some more salt and pepper. Increase the heat to medium hot , add the port and simmer for two minutes. Add some stock if you think there's too little sauce.

We had this with just a slice of bread as we had had a substantial starter as well but you could serve this with rice or maybe mashed potatoes (said the Boyfriend).

The original recipe (which I had ripped out of a copy of Zest - all about fitness and dieting but with great recipes in every issue!) used pears and sweet sherry. The strong-tasting pork can take the sweet stickyness of the fruit and the port or sherry. Figs would work, too, I think.

As much as I like to take charge in the kitchen, I really enjoyed having a guest star for a change. I shall remember to run late once in a while.