What´s On in April:
Sport - Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca regatta, Palma (April 2-9)
Sport - Triathlon International Portocolom (April 10)
Sport - Magalluf Half Marathon (April 23)
Sport - Mallorca 312 Cycling, Playa de Muro (April 30)
Courgettes are also a popular vegetable in Majorca and you’ll come across them in a veggie mix of onions, tomatoes, aubergines and red peppers. Courgettes, called calabacines in Spanish, also appear stuffed on restaurant menus under the name of calabacines rellenos. The stuffing is usually chopped fish in a white sauce and they are especially succulent.
Majorca’s greatest stuffed veggie, however, is the aubergine, called berenjena in Spanish. On menus you will see stuffed aubergines as berenjenas rellenas.
They are usually done with a savoury mix of minced beef, onions and tomatoes plus the aubergine pulp and a topping of sauce made with fresh tomatoes. An emblematic Majorcan dish you mustn’t miss.
You will also comes across round slices of aubergine or courgettes that are dipped in batter and deep-fried. One portion makes a good starter for sharing between two or three.
Throughout the Mediterranean you get dishes of sautéed summer vegetables that include the French ratatouille and the Italian caponata. Majorca’s variation on this theme is called tumbet and it is done with potatoes, aubergines and sliced roasted red peppers topped with a sauce made with fresh tomatoes.
Each sliced vegetable is sautéed separately and then layered in a round or rectangular dish — first the potatoes, then the aubergines, next the roasted red peppers and finally a thick spreading of the sauce made with fresh tomatoes.
In the old days this dish was strictly for the summer because that was when these four vegetables were in season. But nowadays the vegetables and tumbet are available all year long. Some of the more serious Majorcan restaurants, however, insist on doing tumbet only during the summer months when these vegetables are in season and at their best.
The island’s pastry shops are another source of savoury and sweet treats, some of which are especially associated with Easter. These include meat pies called panades that are filled with lamb when they are eaten on Easter weekend. They are on sale throughout the year, with fillings of pork, peas, chicken and sometimes a fish called mussola, a member of the shark family called smooth hound in English.