Pan Con Tomate - a not such a recipe, recipe
On unintentionally charming plates of revived bread and summer tomatoes
A couple of months ago when I was visiting the sunshine coast I quite literally stumbled upon the Spanish pop-up of my dreams. It was a humid evening, we arrived sweaty faced and ready to eat. and drink. The place served only a few seafood dishes and grilled vegetables, and you could smell, hear and see the cooking taking place in the small kitchen which was open to the street. We were squished onto a small table out the front, a carafe of sangria was placed in front of us along with a bowl of steamed mussels. Sitting snug and unassumedly next to the mussels was a plate of pan con tomate. It was all very unintentionally charming.
Looking down at the simple plate of crisp bread topped with tomato pulp I was reminded why I was excited for tomatoes to be in abundance during the summer. Pan con tomate revives pieces of unimpressive (usually stale) bread into a beautiful thing. A little fresh garlic is rubbed over the bread before being grilled in a hot oven and then topped with fresh tomatoes that have been grated down and mixed with olive oil, flakey salt and pepper. The result is crunchy bread the colour of gold, that tastes of summers simplicity. Basically leaves you asking yourself why you haven’t thought to make this every breakfast of your life so far. It’s all I really need. But it also goes well with pickled mussels escabeche, salty anchovies or hard cheese.
Since that sweaty evening I’ve taken to making my own pan con tomate for breakfasts as well as relaxed dinners with friends. It is hardly a recipe, like a lot of things I make it follows more of a guide. This is how I make it, you should make it too.
What you will need:
Half a loaf of old bread/ciabatta (or fresh bread also works of course)
A few cloves of fresh garlic
Good quality extra virgin olive oil
Summer tomatoes (I use about 5 big tomatoes for half a loaf of bread)
Flakey salt and fresh pepper
Pan con tomate process:
Slice the bread you have lying around the kitchen into thick pieces (about 2cm) and then cut them in half down the middle.
Take a clove of fresh garlic and rub it over the bread.
Now lightly pour some beautiful extra virgin olive oil over the top of the bread and season with salt.
Put the bread onto a tray and into a hot oven (about 200 degrees celsius) for about 10 minutes. Every oven is different, which means your bread could take a little less time or a little longer depending. Watch the bread and take it out of the oven when it has turned golden all over. When you tap the grilled bread it should make a nice crunch sound.
While your bread is crisping up, slice the tops off five summer tomatoes and using the large side of a box grater, move the tomatoes back and forth to release their juices into a bowl. Throw the tomato skins into your compost.
Season the fresh tomato pulp with flakey sea salt and fresh black pepper to your liking. Pour a glug of that olive oil into the tomatoes and stir through.
Take a small spoon and layer the thick crunchy bread with your grated tomatoes. Add some more tomato pulp so it sits nice and plump on top of the bread.
Another glug of olive oil should be lightly poured over before serving, along with a little more salt.
I like to eat pan con tomate with steamed mussels or any small fish and from the afternoon onwards with some white wine on the side.