Recipe: pa amb tomàquet (tomato bread)

One of my favourite Catalan dishes is really simple, it's just bread, tomato, olive oil, garlic and salt.  There's hardly any cooking involved and is perfect alongside a beer, but with wine and well anything!

It can be served as a snack on its own, as a starter or beside a salad for a light dinner. It takes minutes to make yet is delicious.

Buy some tasty tomatoes and use good olive oil.  Don't skimp here as you will taste it.  You don't need to use fresh bread (I think traditionally this would have been a way to use yesterday's bread - don't quote me on that tho!) as you will be grilling the bread.

Start with grating your tomatoes. Cut a tomato in half and rub over the grater. Keep the palm of your hand completely flat (unless you fancy some knuckle in there!).  Using the grater  mashes up the pulp of the tomato and keeps the chewy skin away.   I grated the tomatoes into a bowl for ease of spooning onto the bread later.

I had a baguette to hand so used this, however any loaf will do, ciabatta is a tasty option. Slice the bread and drizzle with olive oil. Then place under the grill until crisp.  This crispness holds the tomato in place.

Next, take a  clove of garlic, split it in half and rub over the crisped bread.

Spoon the tomato pulp onto each slice of bread.  You don't need much to top each slice as it will soak into the bread. Add a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt.  That's all you need.  You can add other toppings, anchovies are especially tasty on top.

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