Pan con Tomate is an easy-to-make iconic Spanish dish served in tapas bars all over Spain, or at home as a snack any time of day from breakfast to midnight. Fresh ripe tomatoes, good olive oil, and a good bread are key to your success. If you’re a traditionalist, rub a fresh clove of garlic on a slice of toast and drizzle with olive oil. Rub the garlic toast with a cut tomato and sprinkle with a small amount of salt. If you’re preparing for a group, here’s a twist on the classic “pan con tomate”. Instead of rubbing each slice of toast with a fresh garlic clove, roast the garlic until it is buttery with a mellow garlic flavor minus the bitter garlicky edge of uncooked garlic. I also use a coarse grater to make the fresh tomato sauce instead of rubbing the face of a cut tomato on the toast. If serving as an appetizer, serve the slices of toast on a platter and let your guests spoon the tomato garlic mixture onto their toast, otherwise, if the toast sits too long dressed with the tomato sauce it will get soggy. If serving to guests as a first course, spoon a small amount of the tomato/garlic sauce onto each toast and top with a thin slice of Serrano ham or Prosciutto. In addition to ham, pan con tomate is often served accompanied by anchovies, Manchego cheese, or blistered Padrón peppers (similar to Shishito peppers). However you serve it, Buen provecho!

Serves: 4-6; serving size 2-3 slices of tomato toast per person

Ingredients:

3-4 fresh, ripe, but firm medium size tomatoes
1 head of garlic
1+ tablespoons good quality olive oil
1/2 baguette or ciabatta, or other good quality bread sliced to about ½ inch and toasted
flaky salt like Maldón for garnish (optional but recommended)
thinly sliced Serrano or Iberian ham (Optional, but highly recommended. You can substitute Prosciutto if you can’t find jamón serrano or ibérico.)

Preparation:

Remove the extra loose garlic paper skin from the garlic head. Cut the head in half and drizzle a small amount of olive oil over the cut ends. Wrap the head in a foil pouch and bake in a 400 F oven for 30-40 minutes or more. (A convection toaster oven on “bake” works well and is a more efficient way to roast the garlic.)
While the garlic is roasting, cut the tomatoes in half, and using the coarse face of a box grater and a bowl, grate the tomatoes with the cut half face on the grater. You will end up with a slurry of tomato in the bowl separated from the skin of the tomato. Discard the skin.
Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the tomato slurry and mix. You can add a pinch of table salt at this point if you want.
After 30-40 minutes check the garlic. It should be soft and buttery and easily squeezed out of the skins of individual garlic cloves. Mash about 6 cloves of roasted garlic to a paste and mix with the tomato slurry until well incorporated. (Alternatively, you can spread a small amount of the mashed garlic paste directly onto the toasted bread and top with the tomato sauce.) Save any unused roasted cloves of garlic in a closed container in the fridge for other uses.)
Brush one face of the sliced bread lightly with olive oil and toast until just beginning to turn golden brown.
Spoon a small amount of the tomato/garlic mixture onto each slice and sprinkle with a few flakes of salt.
Optional: top with a thin slice of Jamón Serrano or Ibérico, or Prosciutto.

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