Vine-ripened tomatoes, flaky salt and good olive oil come together on rustic toasted bread to make pan con tomate - one of the easiest Spanish tapas ever!
Another favorite from our Spain trip - comin' at ya!
Pan con tomate - literally translated to bread with tomato - is one of the easiest ways we've brought a little piece of our incredible Spain trip home with us. It's super simple to make and something that was on the menu just about everywhere we went. And with good reason, because it's so yummy!
People in Spain eat pan con tomate at all times of the day. One of our tour guides told us that a normal breakfast for her is pan con tomate with a little glass of red wine - but not on the days she's working (yeah, sure 😉...it's ok girl, we don't judge!).
Something else we noticed during our trip was that there were two ways we saw pan con tomate made: in Madrid and Seville, most places grated the tomato and then spread the pulp on the toasted bread before drizzling it with olive oil and sprinkling it with salt. But in Barcelona, most places just cut the tomato in half and rubbed the tomato itself directly onto the bread - which is what we did at our cooking class in Barcelona with the wonderful folks Cook and Taste!
Grating the tomato and then spooning on the pulp gives it a more pronounced tomato taste & texture, whereas rubbing the tomato on the bread adds just a kiss of tomato flavor. Try both methods and you can decide which one you like best!
First things first: because there are so few ingredients, YOU'VE GOTTA USE GOOD STUFF!
Bread: The foundation of the dish, great bread is obviously muy importante. A rustic bakery loaf works great, white is fine (as long as it's a relatively sturdy loaf) but I'm personally partial to wheat or multigrain. I wouldn't recommend sourdough just because I feel like the flavor of the bread kind of overwhelms the other ingredients. You also want to somewhat aggressively toast it, the tomato gives off some juice and you don't want it to get soggy too fast!
Tomatoes: The closest tomato I've found to the vine-ripened tomatoes they have in Spain are Campari tomatoes. And luckily, it's tomato season so they should be at their peak of deliciousness!
Olive Oil: GET THE GOOD STUFF! I mean, obviously it would be just perfect if it were Spanish olive oil, but that isn't a requirement. However...it should be relatively easy to find because as I mentioned in the homage to Pimientos Padrón post, Spain is the biggest producer of olive oil in the whole world! I'm currently loving Nuñez De Prado Extra Virgin Olive Oil, it's from the Andalusian region of Spain.
Salt: Flaky sea salt for the win! Maldon Sea Salt Flakes are the bomb. They have the coolest pyramid shape and a really crunchy texture that just can't be replicated by regular table salt. Bonus - you can use them in the Salted Fudge Brownies! And tons of other dishes, obviously. It's the perfect finishing salt. Seriously look at these crystals...
Beautiful. ✨
And that's the lowdown on the ingredients!
Once you've got those it's pretty simple: toast the bread, grate the tomato into a bowl and then spoon on the pulp OR rub the tomato directly onto the bread, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, DEVOUR.
You could even top it with a little serrano ham or Manchego cheese. I wouldn't be mad. Not at all.
Yummy noises await you!
Pan con Tomate
Ingredients
- 4 slices rustic bakery bread
- 2 vine-ripened tomatoes
- good extra virgin olive oil, to taste
- flaky sea salt, to taste
Instructions
- Toast the bread so that it is well-toasted, but not burnt.
- Tomato method 1: Cut tomatoes in half on the equator. Use a grater over a bowl to grate the pulp out of the tomatoes, leaving the skin intact. Discard the skin. Spoon tomato pulp evenly over bread.Tomato method 2: Cut tomatoes in half on the equator. Rub 1 cut half of tomato on each slice of bread. Discard the skin.
- Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt, and serve immediately!
I prefer to slice the tomatoes so that no bit of the tomato is wasted. But then my friends in Spain told me that the purpose of the pan con tomate is not just to eat it; it's used as a tool to push and scoop your food!
We usually eat the tomato skins instead of tossing them (snack for the chef!) - so maybe I should update that part of the recipe, haha! I love using bread to scoop up sauces and things on my plate!
This really looks delicious! Can’t wait to try it.
I can’t believe we haven’t made it with you yet! Perfect use for the olive oil we brought you from our trip and the salt we got you for Christmas ????
This is so delicious, it's crazy how easy it is! Love it!
YES TO SPAIN ! Ate it most every day
We did too! The first day we were kind of confused about the bowl of tomato pulp on the hotel's breakfast buffet but we learned quick! ????