Grilled Pan Con Tomate
I recently had the pleasure of cooking a Spanish themed meal for my father in law’s 75th birthday. The main star of the meal was the paella, but the tapas before the main event were not to go unnoticed. My favorite of all the tapas was the pan con tomate, or bread with tomato. What can I say, I’m a sucker for tomato toast. My spin on this traditional Spanish dish, is to grill the bread prior to topping with the luscious end of season tomatoes.
The grilled bread gets rubbed with a raw garlic clove and then topped with a heaping spoonful of finely grated tomatoes, a drizzle of Spanish olive oil, and a hefty sprinkle of flaky sea salt. If you can’t find early girl tomatoes, use the ripest, most delicious, in season tomatoes you can find. This dish is simple and it’s perfection. You should probably eat this every day until the summer tomatoes are gone. Just sayin’!
Grilled Pan Con Tomate
Grilled Pan Con Tomate
Ingredients:
1/2 sourdough baguette, sliced on the bias into 1/4-1/2” slices
1/4 C olive oil
1 clove garlic
2 small early girl tomatoes
Spanish olive oil for drizzling
Maldon sea salt
Brush bread with olive oil on both sides. On a grill or grill pan, grill bread until it has nice charred grill marks on both sides, and is crispy. Alternatively, you could use the broiler if you have no grilling option. Just be sure to watch the toast so it doesn’t burn. Once the bread is nice and toasted, rub one side of each piece of bread with a garlic clove.
On the finest side of a cheese grater (the side with the holes that look like they will f your knuckles up), grate tomatoes into a small bowl. The tomato pulp and seeds will look watery, but this is exactly what you want. Top toasts with a large spoonful of the tomato pulp. Drizzle with your very best olive oil, preferably of the Spanish variety, and a hefty sprinkling of flaky sea salt. Serve immediately.