Pa Amb TomÀquet - Catalan Tomato Bread

In Barcelona, and in much of eastern Spain, one of the most popular tapas is Pa Amb Tomàquet - or Catalan Tomato Bread. Even the airport lounge at the Barcelona airport had all of the fixings to make your own. Why the do-it-yourself setup? Because you want to eat it right away so that the tomato doesn’t sog up the toast!

​It’s remarkably simple and ever so tasty. The Catalonians will eat it for breakfast! Serve it as a fun participatory DIY appetizer.

Ingredients

• Slices of hearty bread, or pieces of a baguette sliced crosswise
• Fresh garlic cloves, skin still on, cut in half. [Leaving the skin on allows you to hold it without getting your fingers all garlicky]
• Fresh ripe tomatoes cut in half crosswise
• Good quality Extra Virgin Olive oil
• Coarse Salt - sea salt flakes are best

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Process

• Toast the bread so that you have a rough crispy surface that will serve as a ”grater” for the garlic and tomato. (For a large crowd you might use a barbecue grill.)
• Take a half piece of garlic and scrape it all over the rough crispy surface of the toast. Raw garlic can be strong, but suit your taste!
• Take a half piece of tomato and scrape it all over the bread, squeezing out the pulp and coating it evenly. [Alternatively, you can grate the tomato halves, using the large holes of a box grater, into a bowl in advance, and spread the tomato onto the toast with a spoon. This is how it was done in the airport lounge in Barcelona.]
• Drizzle with olive oil
• Sprinke with salt
• Eat it right away!!