Pan con Tomate
Pan con tomate is the Catalan bread-and-tomato preparation known in Catalan as pa amb tomaquet. A thick slice of open-crumbed country bread is toasted until its surface is dry, rubbed with a cut garlic clove and then with the flesh of a ripe tomato until only the skin is left in your hand, and finished with extra virgin olive oil and coarse salt. The tomato works as a seasoning rather than a topping, so what you get is a crisp warm slice under a thin, cool, faintly acidic layer. In Catalonia it accompanies tapas and grilled meat; in Andalusia the same combination turns up at breakfast, usually with the tomato grated into a bowl instead of rubbed.
Ingredients
- 4 slicescountry bread
- 2 piecesripe tomatoes
- 3 tbspextra virgin olive oil
- 1 clovegarlic
- ½ tspflaky sea salt
Method
- Cut four slices about 2 cm thick from a loaf of open-crumbed country bread. Thin sandwich bread collapses the moment tomato juice reaches it: you need a crumb with holes that can hold pulp and a crust firm enough to survive rubbing.
- Take the tomatoes out of the fridge 30 minutes ahead and halve them across the equator. Cold flesh stays firm and gives up almost no juice, which is the most common reason the bread ends up dry.
- Heat a dry griddle or heavy pan over medium-high heat and toast the slices 2 to 3 minutes per side, until the surface is dry and marked with brown lines while the centre is still soft. A toaster works too, but you lose the char.
- While the bread is still hot, halve a peeled garlic clove and pass the cut face over one side of each slice three or four times, no more. The dry toasted surface acts like a grater, and extra passes make the whole thing sharp and bitter.
- Hold a tomato half by the skin and rub the cut flesh hard over the same side, pressing until only the skin is left in your hand, then discard the skins. If the tomatoes are firm or out of season, grate them on the large holes of a box grater instead, drain the pulp for 2 minutes and spoon it on.
- Drizzle each slice with about 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil so it soaks into the wet pulp, then finish with flaky sea salt crushed between your fingers.
- Serve within 5 minutes. After that the crumb absorbs the juice and the contrast between crisp surface and cool pulp is gone, so toast fresh slices rather than holding assembled ones.
FAQ
Almost always the bread: slices under 1.5 cm, a soft sandwich loaf, or bread that was warmed rather than properly toasted. The surface has to be dry and crisp before the tomato touches it, and slices should be assembled one at a time, right before eating.
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