Although a more common phrase begins with "When in Rome...", my mother (for her 80th birthday, shhh, don't tell), and Baby and I (for our one year wedding anniversary) were in Barcelona! So what to do when in Barcelona but make their "national dish" for dinner? Canalons! If the idea of cannelloni is tugging at you, there is good reason; both sumptuous platters are similar, and canalons were brought to Spain by Italians about two hundred years ago. Saveur magazine provided the recipe, found here. Pasta wrappers, already cut into rectangles were readily available at our local mercado as were convenient bottles of deliciously prepared bechamel sauce that saved time, skillets, and bowls.
As our canalons baked--meatballs, sauteed in garlicky olive oil and accompanied by ripe tomato jam, made wonderful lettuce cups for an appetizer on the terrace.
Our table, readied for dinner!
To accompany our canalons, a salad of shredded baby romaine hearts was simply dressed with briskly whisked olive oil, balsamic vinegar, tangerine juice, freshly ground black pepper and a touch of sugar.
And I mustn't forget to mention how warmly we were greeted in the beautiful apartment we had rented for a long weekend before tearing off to Sitgez and Valencia!
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