Catalan Toast
by Nigella. Featured in AT MY TABLEIntroduction
I first came across this in a tapas bar in Barcelona about 100 years ago. Rather different than, say, Italian bruschetta, where the tomatoes are chopped and tumbled on toast, Pa amb tomaquet (as this is in Catalan) can be at its simplest, just a piece of toasted country bread, rubbed with garlic and then the cut side of a halved tomato. More familiarly, though, the tomato is pushed through a grater, and the bread merely anointed with this fuzzy mush.
I prefer to grate the tomato directly into a little bowl, rather than onto the toast, mince in a clove of garlic, then stir in a little olive oil before proceeding with the toast. But all that matters, really, is that you start off with a properly good, properly ripe and flavoursome tomato.
Out of one 150g/6oz tomato, I get ½ cup, that's to say 125ml, of tomato topping.
I first came across this in a tapas bar in Barcelona about 100 years ago. Rather different than, say, Italian bruschetta, where the tomatoes are chopped and tumbled on toast, Pa amb tomaquet (as this is in Catalan) can be at its simplest, just a piece of toasted country bread, rubbed with garlic and then the cut side of a halved tomato. More familiarly, though, the tomato is pushed through a grater, and the bread merely anointed with this fuzzy mush.
I prefer to grate the tomato directly into a little bowl, rather than onto the toast, mince in a clove of garlic, then stir in a little olive oil before proceeding with the toast. But all that matters, really, is that you start off with a properly good, properly ripe and flavoursome tomato.
Out of one 150g/6oz tomato, I get ½ cup, that's to say 125ml, of tomato topping.
Ingredients
Makes: approx. 6 pieces
- 1 large very ripe tomato but not beefsteak (approx. 150g/6 ounces)
- 1 clove garlic (peeled)
- 1 x 15ml tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- approx. 3 chunky slices sourdough or other rustic bread (halved)
- Maldon sea salt flakes (to taste)
- 1 large very ripe tomato but not beefsteak (approx. 150g/6 ounces)
- 1 clove garlic (peeled)
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- approx. 3 chunky slices sourdough or other rustic bread (halved)
- kosher salt (to taste)
Method
- Push the tomato through a coarse grater, either a box grater or microplane directly into a little bowl, then mince or finely grate in a clove of garlic. Add the oil and a pinch of salt and, with a fork, stir together so you have a fuzzy light red mush.
- Toast the bread – I like mine well-toasted and charred at the edges – then spread modestly with the tomato mixture; the bread should still be visible under the scant scarlet topping. Sprinkle with more sea salt, and serve immediately.
- Push the tomato through a coarse grater, either a box grater or microplane directly into a little bowl, then mince or finely grate in a clove of garlic. Add the oil and a pinch of salt and, with a fork, stir together so you have a fuzzy light red mush.
- Toast the bread – I like mine well-toasted and charred at the edges – then spread modestly with the tomato mixture; the bread should still be visible under the scant scarlet topping. Sprinkle with more sea salt, and serve immediately.
Additional Information
MAKE AHEAD / STORE:
It's not advisable to make ahead or store.
MAKE AHEAD / STORE:
It's not advisable to make ahead or store.
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Show more commentsI prefer this Spanish version to the Italian one. Not that either are bad! Nice to alternate bites with shavings of serrano ham.
Something they do here in Andalucia (where I am currently living) is instead of adding minced garlic to the tomato "mush" they rub a raw garlic clove on the toast, then drizzle olive oil, then spoon on the tomato "mush", and then, of course, add a sprinkling of sea salt.
I make this with home-grown sweetly acidic cherry tomatoes briefly blizted in a mini-chopper and seasoned with garlic, salt and EV olive oil. Superb for breakfast on toasted sourdough. As the song goes "There's only two things money cain't buy -- True love and home-grown tomaytoes."
I have a guest house in France. A lot of my guests are Spanish. This looks so easy to do, it is now on my menu .