Grilled Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Black Bean Salsa

Fall has arrived in San Diego and thank goodness it is bringing some gorgeous summer weather with it!  This year our annual May Gray turned into the usual June Gloom which extended into the July... bly?  And on into August and even September.  What a "summer" it has been, cold, dreary, drizzly and not a whole lot of sun.  However... we finally woke up to a bright sun peeking over the horizon and received a whole new look on life.

The world bathed in the morning sun is truly beautiful.  Light, low on the horizon, provides a photographer's dream with soft, golden colors, and beautiful angles.  And to imagine I found myself on my morning beach walk without my camera!  Luckily my husband has supplied me with a trusty blackberry and with how nice this image turned out I'm wondering why the heck I need all my Canon equipment??  (To my husband - if you are reading this I'm just teasing!).

Sunny weather, warmer temps and a touch of summer automatically send me to the grill.  With a perfect pork tenderloin in the fridge, a few spices in the pantry and a bowl full of market fresh heirloom tomatoes, the Rubbed Tenderloin with Black Bean Salsa was a given.  The spices are those one usually has on hand and are easy to whisk together at a moments notice.  The salsa also uses fresh ingredients that are not out of the ordinary, but when mixed together provide a lovely contrast to the slightly spicy, tender pork.  Finished off with a side salad, a slice of focaccia and a bowl of fruit we have a meal that works for the whole family!

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Mango Salsa

Summerish weather has finally hit here in Not-So-Sunny San Diego!  Fog still blankets us in the morning, but thank goodness the sun gods have seen fit to let the sun shine on us during the day.  I can't tell you what a difference a good day of sun makes on one's outlook!

With energy to burn we filled our day with "summerish" events (beach and shopping!) and came home to plan an evening meal in the gorgeous, sunny outdoors.  With a fresh pork tenderloin in the fridge and perfectly ripe mangoes on the counter we opted one of our all time summer favorites.  Spices from our pantry mixed together to create a slightly spicy and extraordinarily flavorful rub for the meat, and fresh mangoes, jalapeños, onion, a touch of lime and cilantro quickly combined for our delightfully contrasting sweet salsa.

The spice rub is one we have been using for a few years and has become our "go-to" rub when time is a bit short.  I mix up a batch and found some cute little storage bottles at an outlet store to keep whatever I have remaining so that I always have some on hand.  The bottled rub also works wonderfully for a cute hostess gift!

This is one of those meals that all comes together on the grill for those hot (or just plain nice) days when you don't want to cook inside.  Corn from the market and a buttered baguette joined the pork on the grill and with the addition of a side salad our meal was complete.