Pa Amb Tomaquet (Tomato Toast)

EdsGirlAngie's Note:

From "Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating" (a cookbook I HIGHLY recommend), this is an absolutely delicious Catalan garlic toast soaked with tomato juices and drizzled with olive oil and sea salt! It can be topped with chopped olives, capers, anchovies or serrano ham and is incredibly wonderful when the bread is grilled and a good olive oil is used. And, this is a good way to use up fresh tomatoes that are getting a little past their prime.

• Total Time: 10 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 2

• 4 slices thick goodcrusty Italian bread or 4 slices French bread
• 1 tomato , halved
• 1 clove garlic , halved
• olive oil , to taste
• sea salt

Directions:

1. Grill or toast bread slices.
2. Rub grilled bread with garlic halves, then rub tomato halves into bread; really mash them on there- the idea here is to soak the bread tops with the tomato juices.
3. Discard tomatoes.
4. Drizzle bread with good olive oil to taste, then sprinkle with some sea salt.
5. Serve hot.
6. Now you're in heaven!

Reviews

[College Girl]

YAYYAYAY THis is AMAZING!! I love this sooo much... I have it in my all time favs. If you haven't had this... try it. Use fresh tomatoes and the best olive oil and salt and bread... you'll be in for a MAJOR treat. :D oh yeah... Usually i don't use garlic because the tomatoes are so amazing!

[Picholine]

Simple foods are often the best! I made a mini version with a sourdough dinner roll. I cut it in half and put it in the toaster. On the first half, I omitted the garlic and topped it with a little cheddar cheese--good but not great. With the second half I followed the recipe exactly and it was wonderful (though a whole half a garlic clove was a bit overpowering for my tiny dinner roll--good thing I love garlic!). It's like garlic bread enhanced with the sweet taste of tomato. The dinner roll version would be great for appetizers at a party, perhaps topped with an olive. IN the future, I'll experiment with using basil, oregano, and/or anchovy paste (instead of salt). Rather than discarding the tomato shells, I ate them with a bit of salt, pepper and olive oil.

[Karen & Angel]

I live in Catalunya, and thought it was a nice surprise to see this recipe here, in Catalan and everything. This is just how they make this here... the garlic is optional, but a nice addition. Try this with some sliced cheese on top (a medium cheddar, perhaps?) or, best of all, a nice handful of good jamón (or proscuttio (sp?)) Simple, light, really yummy!