pork loin with figs and port wine sauce and wilted mustard greens with sweet onions

PORTUGUESE! That was the theme of our Friday night dinner. If you couldn't surmise from my husband's name, Nuno, he comes from a Portuguese background. I'm familiar with a number of traditional Portuguese dishes from my in-laws and have grown to love many of their staple meals.

Pork Loin with Figs and Port Wine Sauce is not a staple meal, but the ingredients are. To add to this meal I decided to make a side of Wilted Mustard Greens with Sweet Onions. Instead of Mustard Greens, which I can't seem to locate anywhere in Niagara, I substituted for Collard Greens (which is a key ingredient in my all time favourite Portuguese soup, Caldo Verde). 

So this meal wasn't all that great. I enjoyed the roasted pork, but the sauce didn't seem to add much. Luckily I made a dessert to save the meal. 

Arroz Doce is Portuguese Sweet Rice and is about as close to the definition of comfort food as you can get. Fragrant, smooth, comforting, sweet and all too easy to eat. This dessert is really a sort of risotto. And like I blogged a few entries ago with risotto, it's great for babies! I want Owen to grow up enjoying this comfort food and so he had his first taste with this meal and loved it. Or in his words, 'Num, num'.