Pan con Tomate 2 ways (Veggie / Cured Ham)

If you want to get my heart in 3 words, forget about I love you : I have 3 much sweeter words in mind. Pan. Con. Tomate. As I failed to understand younger, less is more. This dish is one of the most satisfying summer dishes I know. A true summer dish, with aromatic summery produce. A dish you won't mind making even when it's 40°C outside. And such a dish is made within 10 minutes.

• First, grate your tomatoes
• Meanwhile, toast some bread
• Add olive oil, basil, salt to your tomatoes
• Rub garlic on your bread
• Spread your tomato mixture on your bread
• Add toppings (if any).

This beautiful dish does not need any topping. You could spread your tomato mixture to your bread and call it a day : it will still be the most amazing 5-mn open-faced sandwiches you've ever had. Yet I simply felt like playing around with my pan con tomate. I started picturing olives and feta cheese on top of this beauty, and I knew I had to attempt this version. But I do love the traditional ones, too. Pan con tomate y jamon (with cured ham) is iconic in Catalonia ; could my humble veggie version compare to this one ? Spoiler alert ; it could. I was truly amazed to see how I instantly felt the superiority of the veggie version over the ham version. I'm no vegetarian, but I keep discovering how easy it is to favour, as much as possible, veggie-based dishes ; and how easy it is to make those veggies shine, when you give them the same consideration you would to meat. Quality is of the essence, as well as a bit of research on traditional cooking techniques and recipes -with a great many number of dishes that are naturally vegetarian.

Pan con Tomate 2 ways - Ingredients

Ingredients - Advice & key points

• The amounts listed make around 10 small to medium toasts, which serve 5 as an appetizer, or 2-3 as a main.
• It goes without saying but : use quality, in-season tomatoes ! This is truly a summer dish, where the tomato taste must shine.
• Basil and garlic are optional, but highly, highly recommended.
• If you don't own a toaster (which I find quite handy), you can use :
  • a pan on medium-high heat, and toast your slices 1-2 minutes per side ;
  • an oven on grill mode if you prep a large batch ; broil for 1–2 minutes per side on high ;
  • if you own a gas stove, using tongs, hold the bread directly over a gas flame for a few seconds on each side, moving it constantly to avoid burning.
• You can use any bread you have on hand -just not industrial bread, please ; a fresh loaf from your local bakery is needed.
  • I ask my baker to pre-slice the bread, as I find it much handier.
  • I always keep a sliced bread loaf in my freezer. Then I have some whenever I like ; simply toast a slice or two straight from frozen, and there you go !
  • If you can find rustic bread, this would the most traditional type for Pan con Tomate.
• Feel free to play around with Pan con Tomate toppings !
  • The most typical are either cured ham, anchovies or cheese.
  • Feel free to have others, or none at all ! It will be de-li-cious anyway.

Let's get it done !