Pan Con Tomate Recipe (2024)

Two suggestions:Grate the top halves of all four tomatoes, saving the bottom halves for slicing. This has two advantages. The top half is easier to grate, because it is firmer and, if it has a piece of stem, that act as a handle. Also tomatoes ripen from the bottom up so the sliced bottoms will be more luscious.Use good country bread and toast it on only one side. The top, toasted side will provide the crunch, while the bottom, untoasted side will soak up the inevitable juice better.

It's true that tomatoes ripen from the bottom but when the tomato is ripe the whole fruit is ripe; if your tomatoes are not fully ripe, this is probably not the best recipe for them. To grate them, you don't really need a handle...you press the tomato against the grate with the heel of your hand and when you get to the grate, the skin of the tomato protects your hand. Finally, toasting on only one side leaves you vulnerable to a soggy result and tomato toast really does need crunch.

If it's a Catalan traditional recipe, it's only fair to call it with it's true name: 'Pa amb tomàquet'.The only right way to do this is to rub the tomato straight onto the bread. If you're feeling fancy, toast the bread and rub it with garlic before the tomato. Finish it with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Adding more tomato on top is redundant and stupid, you better accompany it with cheese or cured meats.Red wine to wash it down.DO NOT PUREE!

Toasting the bread in olive oil using a pan makes this even better!

Agree with frank bracq that grilling the bread in olive oil in a frying pan works fabulously. I find best results using a smaller-diameter loaf, so that each piece of bread is rather small - when you bite into it, tomato bits inevitably go tumbling off so it works better as a two-bite piece. It’s not traditional, but you can make a meal of it by adding a very thinly sliced piece of manchego cheese on top.

Ahhh. the NYTimes has discovered pan de tomate! Well done, except here in Catalonia, one can: toast a great baguette or rustica, rub the garlic on the crusty bread first, then cut a ripe tomato in half (cherry tomatoes work just fine, the sweeter the better) and rub the open face on the bread. Before eating, drizzle a bit of olive oil on top. Always a side to delight..... kinda a fresh pizza.

If it's in Barcelona, it's pa amb tomàquet in Catalan.

I put the grated tomatoes in a strainer for a few minutes to drain off the watery bit. Keeps the bread from getting too soggy. Also, chives or oregano work as well as basil.

Let your oven do the work for you. I put my bread slices on a baking sheet, drizzle with oil, and bake at 375 for about 15 minutes, turning once. At the same time I prep tomatoes, basil, and cheese. This is one of our favorite dishes to make in tomato season since it's so easy and delicious.

I add some burrata, an arugula salad and call it dinner on a hot summer night. A favorite of my teenagers!

Noting several comments of folks arguing - in the debate sense of the verb - the "only right way" to make a tomato toast is their Catalonian recipe made their way, I thought I'd simply weigh in on this recipe made this way. It is a splendidly simple to make and utterly luscious to eat celebration of fresh tomatoes in season. A glass of wine, this and it is "ahhh...some" meal or starter. There may be tomato toasts as good but I'd wager there are none better.

We live in Barcelona and, while this recipe photo is beautiful, it's definitely not what Catalan tomato bread (pa amb tomàquet) ever looks like. Tomatoes here are always halved and rubbed directly onto the bread, and the result is light and delicious. Also, I've never seen basil used here with tomato bread. That seems much more like Italian bruschetta.

Just a good old bruschetta, made appear difficult. I recommend adding fresh chopped basil leaves.

We made it exactly as Mr. Tanis described and it was wonderful.

To be honest with you, it never occurred to me before despite being a Catalan. It's not the traditional way but sure it's well worth giving it a try.

Question for the Catalonians and frequent visitors to the region who said pa amb tomàquet is always rubbed with tomato, never with grated or puréed tomato. I was just there and indeed had great pa amb tomàquet with the tomato rubbed directly on the bread, but I was also in several locations where there was a bowl of grated tomato passed around to spoon on the toasted bread available. Is that called something else? Thanks!

Catalonia isn’t only Barcelona. I wouldn’t say this recipe comes from Barcelona, but from Catalonia, which includes Girona, Tarragona and Lleida. And, finally, we never ever add cuts of tomatoes nor cherry tomatoes on a ‘pan con tomate’. This is a huge mistake. ‘Pan con tomate’ is just a slice of bread, toasted or not, on which you rub half a tomato and put salt and olive oil after that. The other variation is rubbing first a garlic clove on a toast and rubbing afterwards thé tomato.

Yum. Perfect. I used farm fresh beefsteak tomatoes.

Just big tomatoes; figure out garlic—didn’t work

I used a quinoa sourdough from a local baker, toasted it up real nice and spread some shallot and chive boursin while still hot and made it melt. Skipped the tomato puree (honestly on accident) and used some lovely heirloom tomatoes. Topped with a sprinkle of salt and drizzle of green chili infused olive oil. No basil on hand but still lovely. Love this recipe.

This is neither Pan con Tomate nor Pa amb Tomàquet. This is a New York slice with Velveeta-stuffed double crust and tofu.

It isn't a canonical recipe but a good approach. Adding tomatoe slices on top, it's simply to difficult the recipe and pretend to be fancier than anybody else.

Good suggestion to add turmeric oil to yogurt. Stopped after the yogurt section. Great!

If you have access to high-quality anchovies (if, say, you're residing in Catalonia or just north across the border in SE France), top each tomato bread piece with a filet. Divine.

I've been looking to recreate this Barcelona magic for many years. Nothing in tomato season compares. Thanks so much for this valuable recipe. So simple and so so good.

How do you come up with so much protein in the nutrition tally? Tomatoes have virtually none and the bread is not whole wheat.

This was fantastic! I amped it up a bit for a cooler dinner by adding some crisp bacon crumbles and some balsamic glaze. Hubby just loved it!

Awesome summer appetizer or light lunch.

I learned this from a Spanish housemate who called it “Scratch Toast”

Delicious! Made for a quick supper for one. Heirloom tomatoes: grated one, sliced one. Made it garlicky and topped w the basil, salt, pepper, olive oil. Served with a glass of rose 🙏