Pan Con Tomate: Summer on Toast - No. 231
My adventures making this classic Spanish recipe & learning a sad truth about my own tomatoes
I AM NOT SPANISH SO YOU MIGHT THINK I could never create the legendary ‘’tomato bread’’ of Spain—pan con tomate—but give me a minute.
While this garlicky toast topped with fresh tomatoes was born two centuries ago in Catalonia where it is called ‘’pa amb tomaquet,’’ tomatoes originated in the New World way before they made their splash in the Old. In fact, what would the Italians have done without New World tomatoes for their bruschetta and how could all of the Mediterranean kitchens resurrect day-old bread in salads without ripe tomatoes?
I’ve been dreaming about a pan con tomate I savored not in Spain, but at Curate restaurant in Asheville, North Carolina, about four years ago.
I was visiting my daughter who was in school not too far away, and Katie Button’s restaurant Curate had been on my list to try. We were able to snag a couple seats at the bar, and we spent two hours eating ham, Manchego, salad, and flan, but hands down the best order was the pan con tomate. It was also June and the weather was sticky hot and those cool, fresh tomatoes on that garlicky toast were like a balm.
That evening I tried to extract every gram of information about the recipe from our server. Sometimes I don’t know what comes over me as I turn into this recipe sleuth. There’s a method to getting a recipe out of someone you don’t know. You don’t just ask for the recipe…
You begin by complimenting the dish, and gushing works, too, and it’s especially effective when you are in love with something on the menu and want to recreate it at home. You pick out one component of the item and begin there. I knew the ingredients of this pan con tomate were red-ripe tomatoes, olive oil, salt, and bread because I can read the menu. But it was the bread I was most curious about. Was it baked in house? Locally? Could I buy some and take it home?
As luck would have it, the bread was baked in Spain and shipped to the restaurant, the server said.
But I could substitute a crisp baguette or ciabatta, and while that pacified me a bit, honestly, I wanted this particular light and crispy bread. It was called Pan de Cristal, which translates to ‘’glass bread’’ in Spanish.
Just this past week, I Googled the bread and found, indeed, it could be shipped to my door from La Tienda…for a price. But because I am deep in tomato season, and this is no ordinary tomato year, let’s just say I threw caution to the tomatoes and bought some. (If tomato seasons are remembered as fondly as the great vintages of Bordeaux, then 2023 is one for the books!)
The bread arrived frozen, packed in ice, and pre-sliced. I placed it on a sheet pan, let it thaw a bit first, then ran it under the broiler to char. But before I did, I consulted J. Kenji Lopez-Alt with Serious Eats. He said the bread should be placed about 4 inches from the heat, and it took about 5 minutes to get some charred edges. I turned the oven light on and watched it to make sure my investment didn’t burn up! And I drizzled the cut edges with a good Spanish olive oil from Costco.
Less is often more, but things can get complicated
What I have learned in cooking through life is that fewer ingredients might seem to make a recipe easier, but it’s important to get them right because they each carry more weight. I’ve mentioned how critical the bread is with this recipe. So are the tomatoes.
I started this project because I had a bounty of tomatoes—mostly Cherokee Purples and Bradleys. But sadly, I learned that these are the tomatoes of soft and squishy tomato-mayo sandwiches NOT pan con tomate. These heirloom tomatoes that we swoon about in the summertime have too much water and way too many seeds. And they aren’t exactly red in color once you slice into them. More pink or brown?
The first pan con tomates were made by rubbing garlic and a cut tomato right onto the crusty day-old bread. But these days, in busy homes and restaurants, when you want to make a platter of them at one time, slice the tomatoes in half horizontally, right through their equator, and holding one half at a time, rub it over the box grater and into a bowl.
My Southern tomatoes are also juicy, which makes them taste good. And while I remedied this situation by pouring the grated tomatoes through a sieve and cooking down the juices and spooning that reduction over the finished slices, pan con tomate is obviously intended for meaty Spanish tomatoes or at least a Roma variety that’s less watery and has fewer seeds.
I was able to salvage my faintly-red grated tomato sauce with Campari tomatoes on the vine. I had half a box left over from vacation. They are smaller and redder in color than most heirloom tomatoes, and they naturally colored my sauce a luscious red.
Salt, olive oil, and garlic, too!
Even if your tomatoes lack a little in color or flavor, you can make up for that with a nice extra virgin olive oil. And a good salt. I used Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, but you could also use a flaky sea salt.
Sprinkle a little salt into the tomato pulp, but go light-handed. Salt, I believe, is personal.
You also need garlic, and this is personal, too. I rubbed about 2 large split cloves over 8 charred pieces of bread.
Time to assemble and serve
It’s funny—recipes for pan con tomate tell you to assemble them and quickly serve because you don’t want the tomatoes to turn your precious bread soggy. But every bruschetta recipe I’ve ever followed tells you to prep ahead to do exactly that!
Assembly is easy and goes like this—bread, olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, salt, drizzle of oil, more salt, if you like. And that spoonful of reduced tomato juices, don’t forget that!
So, the lesson learned is to trust yourself.
I placed these on a platter and served them with salad greens for Sunday lunch. To round out the meal, add burrata, or white anchovies says Katie Button in her cookbook Curate, or thin slices of Spanish ham. Or, serve these as a tapa with drinks as they are often presented in Spain.
Forgo the Parmesan and basil, even if that is a difficult thing to do in the summertime. They don’t need it. And start planning a small garden patch of Roma tomatoes next year so you have just the right tomato.
I went searching for a recipe from memory, and once I found it, I wanted to understand it. And now that I do, I want to make it over and over while we still have good tomatoes. And when the fancy Spanish bread is gone, I’ll buy baguettes from Dozen bakery here in Nashville and slice those lengthwise, run them under the broiler, and something tells me no one will complain.
Have a great week!
- xo, Anne
P.S. What to drink with pan con tomate? Cava, of course!
Do you make pan con tomate? What is your ‘’summer on toast?’’
THE RECIPE:
Pan Con Tomate
If you’d rather fire up the grill to char your bread, so be it! Just make sure the broiler or grill is hot because the charred edges add flavor. It’s hard to guesstimate how many tomatoes you need for sauce. I say use what you have because any leftovers can be saved for another round. Or you can spoon the fresh tomato sauce over grilled fish or sliced avocado. In lieu of Pan de Cristal bread, use a good baguette or ciabatta.
Makes 4 servings
6 to 8 medium to large ripe tomatoes
Kosher or flaked sea salt
8 slices Pan de Cristal, or 1 long baguette, sliced 1-inch thick on the bias, or one loaf of ciabatta, split in half horizontally, and then cut crosswise into 1-inch slices
Extra virgin olive oil
2 to 3 cloves garlic, split in half
Cut the tomatoes in half horizontally. Place a box grater into a large bowl and rub the cut slices of tomatoes over the holes of the grater, pushing the tomato into the grater so the flesh grates but the skin stays intact in your hand. Discard the skin. If the flesh seems too watery, pour it through a sieve and let the juices fall into a small saucepan. Reduce these juices for 4 to 5 minutes over medium heat until they are syrupy. Turn off the heat.
Season the tomatoes with salt, if desired.
Arrange the slices of bread on a baking sheet. Drizzle with oil, and preheat the broiler to high. Broil about 4 inches from the heat source until the edges char, which takes 3 to 5 minutes, depending on your oven. Watch them with the oven light on.
Remove the bread from the oven and rub the slices back and forth with the garlic.
To serve, place the garlicky slices on a platter, spoon the sauce over each. Season with more salt, if desired, and drizzle with olive oil. If you reduced the tomato juices, drizzle that syrup over the top. Enjoy!
Glad you threw caution to the tomatoes and held out for the good stuff!
Oh, for a sampling of your Pan Con Tomate and a glass of chilled Cava!