Pan con Tomate

Making Pan con Tomate Ahead

Not applicable — this is a dish measured in seconds. Toast fresh every time.

Making Pan con Tomate

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1. Toast or grill the bread until it is well coloured and genuinely crisp on both sides. Soft toast will not work.

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2. While it is still hot, rub the cut side of the garlic clove briskly over the surface of each slice. One or two passes only.

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3. Take a tomato half and rub the cut face hard across the toast, pressing so the flesh grates against the crust.

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4. Keep going until only the skin is left in your hand and the bread has turned pinkish-orange and slightly damp.

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5. Drizzle each slice generously with olive oil — more than feels reasonable.

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6. Finish with a good pinch of flaky salt.

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7. Top with jamón, anchovies or cheese if using, and eat immediately.

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Related guide: Ingredient substitutions.

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Tips for Success

• The tomatoes must be ripe and soft. A firm supermarket tomato will not grate and will not give up its juice.
• Garlic first, then tomato. Reversed, the garlic slides off.
• Assemble one slice at a time and eat as you go. This does not keep for five minutes.

Behind the Recipe

Rubbing a halved tomato across rough toast leaves only pulp and juice while the skin stays in your hand — you get concentrated flavour without the water that would make the bread soggy. The toast must be genuinely rough and hot so it grates the tomato as you rub.

Serving Ideas

Jamón ibérico and Manchego · A cold beer or a glass of cava · Olives and almonds

If You're Missing Something

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Pan con Tomate Nutrition Facts

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

Vegan when made without the jamón serrano or ibérico, anchovy fillets and manchego shavings. Dairy-free when made without the manchego shavings. Vegetarian when made without the jamón serrano or ibérico and anchovy fillets.

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