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For being such a simple dish, the recipe I am going to show you today goes by a lot of names. I call it "Pan Tomaca." It's also called "pan con tomate,"
"pa amb tomaquet," in catalan.
It really has
countless names, and they all describe exactly want it is.
This Spanish dish is a combination of bread rubbed with tomato slices and garlic.
It comes from Catalunya, which is the region in the northeastern part of Spain where Barcelona is.
Basically, it's very simple to make.
What you're going to need is a little bit of...
I don't want to say stale, but well yea stale bread, crispy bread. In Spanish they call it "pan de ayer", yesterday's bread.
Now if you don't have day old bread, you can also buy fresh and put it in the toaster for a couple seconds to crisp it up.
What you want is basically a rough surface, which you can hear here as I rub it.
It kindof gives off a gritty sound.
The reason we want that, as you'll see now, is because as we rub the garlic and tomato across the it,
we want the bread to be rough enough to break down the surface of both the garlic and the tomato.
So just peel the top off, cut the tip off the garlic clove, and you're going to rub it along the surface of the bread,
breaking it down,
and imparting the bread with a little bit of the garlic flavor
from the essential oils.
Next, you'll take your tomato,
And we're going to want to cut it lengthwise,
like this, across,
so not from pole to pole where you see the roots, but straight through the center of the tomato
As I open it up, you'll see why.
The reason we do that is because that exposes the most of the flesh of the tomato,
and we get a lot of the pulp and the seeds coming out as I rub it along the bread.
So as I rub it along the bread, you'll see what's happening.
The flesh of the tomato is breaking down and imparting the bread with the flavor.
Next,
you're going to drizzle it with just a little bit of olive oil,
and a final sprinkle of salt.
Now this is the most basic pan tomaca. This is the classic, traditional, complete recipe.
But, if you want to take it a step further, which of course we do,
you're going to add some toppings to it.
Whatever kinds of toppings you like. The most traditional is a little bit of jamon serrano, which is basically a
Spanish version of Italian prosciutto ham, which you may already know and is actually easier to get in the United States.
If you're not into that, you can put a little bit of Italian sopressata, which is a spicy sausage, or the Spanish chorizo version.
They're a little bit different, though, the chorizo has a little bit of
smoked paprika, which gives it a different flavor but they're both in the genre of spiced sausages.
Moving away from the meats, you could put a little bit of cheese,
I would recommend a Manchego cheese, which is a sheep's milk cheese from Spain,
You could also use a little bit of white anchovy fillets, that's delicious
Uhh... and even going away from the more traditional aspects, we could put a little bit of microgreens. that would be a nice crisp topping.
Or, a little bit of hummus, chickpea puree.
Or some olive tapenade.
So basically, think of this dish as a blank canvas. You could either leave it as is, or decorate it a bit
and make it a little more exciting.
So, the recipe for today is "pan tomaca," "pa amb tomaquet,""pan con tomate,"
whatever you call it, it's great!