Pan con Tomate – Our Summer Spanish Tomato Bread Recipe

How can such a simple fresh tomatoes recipe be so utterly delicious? Well, it can! This is our Spanish tomato bread recipe – or our Pan con Tomate recipe, should we say?

Obviously – the clue’s in the name – we’re straying away from our usual Turkish recipes with this article.

But that doesn’t matter.

This blog is about us and our experiences. And there are some international dishes that, along with Turkish food favourites, are a part of our everyday kitchen. So we feel they should be on the blog.

And, of course, especially with this recipe, we’ll be making use of seasonal ingredients. Namely, the amazing Turkish summer tomatoes.

For this Spanish tomato bread recipe, you need the best, fresh, ripe tomatoes you can get your hands on.

In the local markets around these parts, there’s no shortage of those, it being a tomato-growing area.

We go for the Turkish pembe tomatoes because the texture and flavour is just perfect for this lovely summer dish.

Spanish Tomato Bread – Welcome To Our World

This is one of those recipes that came into our lives via a TV show with celebrity chefs.

Spanish chef, Jose Pizarro was a guest on chef James Martin’s show, ‘James Martin’s Saturday Morning.’

The way he gushed over its simplicity – ‘less is more,’ was his mantra for this dish – but also its deliciousness. Well, with the hot summers we have here in Fethiye, we just had to give it a try.

Pan con tomate apparently originated in the Catalonia region of Spain. And, as they speak Catalan in those parts, it is called pa amb tomaquet; bread with tomatoes.

Whether or not Jose Pizarro – and the rest of the Spanish population – would approve of our rather hefty helping of tomato mixture atop our toasted bread slices, we shall probably never know.

But this is how we love to eat it.

The Tomatoes

Apparently, in some parts of Spain, during tomato season, the tomatoes are so soft, they can simply be sliced in half and the tomato is rubbed directly onto the toasted bread.

For us, we need to make a fresh tomato pulp in the same way as we do when we make our homemade Turkish tomato soup.

Big beefeater tomatoes or heirloom tomatoes (on the left in the photo above) are amongst the best tomatoes to use.

Not tinned tomatoes! This is about the fresh flavours of raw tomato.

As we said, we like to use Turkish pembe domates.

We like these because you don’t need overly-juicy tomatoes. And pembe tomatoes tend not to have too many seeds or juice.

Pulp

To get the tomato pulp, you need to cut your tomato in half. Then grate the cut side over the large holes of a box grater into a large bowl.

The tomato skin will be left in your hand (you can use those for other recipes).

Even with a non-juicy tomato, as you can see, you still end up with too much liquid.

Your Spanish tomato toast needs to be exactly that – toast. Not mushy bread.

So, now you just need to pour the grated tomato pulp into a sieve to get rid of the excess tomato juices.

You can see in the photo above how much excess juice we get, even from our not-very-juicy tomatoes!

Don’t throw this away.

We refrigerate it and drink it – or, as James Martin suggested in his TV programme; make yourself a Bloody Mary from it.

And then you’ll have a bowl of fresh tomato pulp just waiting to be spooned over the top of your toasted bread.

The Raw Garlic

This is where we stray again from the ‘less is more’ mantra.

Traditionally, a clove of garlic is halved and rubbed over the surface of your toasted bread.

It’s a lovely flavour!

We do this and we also like to add some roughly chopped and smashed cloves of garlic to our tomato pulp.

The Hearty Bread

Spanish tomato bread is a recipe that can be utilised to make delicious use of stale bread. So don’t worry if you haven’t got fresh bread to hand.

It just needs to be a good sturdy bread.

We use a crusty bread – sourdough. A ciabatta or baguette does the trick, too.

Just make sure it’s a robust, rustic loaf and not soft and flimsy.

Lots of people toast their bread in a toaster or under the grill. But we love to get the cast iron griddle pan nice and hot. Then lightly griddle four slices of bread between the two of us.

Those lovely black lines add extra flavour.

The Olive Oil & Seasonings

Your final, crucial ingredients are a generous drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

And this is completely optional, and, as far as we know, not traditional…we like to add a small amount of chilli flakes just for a little bit of heat.

Time To Serve Your Spanish Tomato Bread

Pan con tomate or pa amb tomaquet is often to be found in tapas bars. And it is also enjoyed in Spanish homes as a side dish.

We love it as a delicious summer lunch when the weather is steaming hot and appetites are low.

Honestly, it’s a real treat. And a wonder how such an easy recipe with such simple, fresh ingredients can taste so good.

And if you’re entertaining and making it as one of your tapas, your vegetarian and vegan friends will also fully appreciate it.

If you’ve never tried Spanish tomato bread, now is the time!

Spanish Tomato Bread Recipe – Pan con Tomate

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