Catalan Bread with Tomato

I get pregnancy type cravings for Pan con Tomato or (Catalan spelling) Pa amb Tomàquet, it's a basic thing but taste divine.  You can eat it as it is or top it with Serrano ham or Manchego cheese for example.



Ingredients

Tomatoes
Country style bread
Garlic
Extra virgin olive oil,  Arbequina if you can get it
Manchego cheese
Jamon Serrano

There are two ways of making it. The traditional way is to rub a cut tomato onto bread or toast.  You usually use a special tomato for this method which is called a hanging tomato.  These tomatoes are dried on the vine in a dry place for winter.  They have a particularly thick skin which makes them ideal for this preserving method.  The odd one goes rotten but more or less they will keep for months in this way.

Hanging Tomatoes

Bread rubbed with hanging tomatoes

The modern way of making tomato bread is to grate the tomato into a bowl add olive oil and salt and then spread it onto the bread or toast.

You can rub garlic onto the bread first, this is better suited to toast as the hard crust makes it a natural grater.

Then rub or spread tomato onto the bread.  If you rub the tomato onto the bread, drizzle olive oil onto it afterwards.  Sprinkle with sea salt and top with your chosen topping.