While we’ve got some less sophisticated quick and easy recipes in our go-to arsenal, student pizza being one of them, our pan con tomate recipe is a whole other kettle of tomato flavoured fish. It may well be an ingeniously simple and healthy snack treat whenever it’s needed, but it’s also got an innate ability to dress up to any occasion if you want it to, making it one of the most versatile rapid-fire recipes you can find.
If you get home from work and need a little amuse bouche it’ll be ready in a few minutes, but equally if you’ve got a party on the agenda then these are great starters that can easily be ramped up to whatever volume you need. You can also dress it up easily with some super fancy crusty bread, instead of triangular sliced toast, and a little jamón Serrano placed delicately on top. Finish off with s little garnish of fresh basil or parsley and they’ll look very impressive.
For any not so cunning linguists out there, pan con tomate is a Spanish recipe for seasoned tomatoes with chopped garlic in a little drizzle of olive oil, layered lovingly on top of toasted rustic bread. Though it’s originally a Catalan breakfast dish, it’s potential goes way beyond an early morning feast, but it does make a very tasty meal to start the day with.
Pan con tomate recipe ingredients
Serves 2 and dishes up one of your five a day:
- 4 ripe tomatoes chopped into small chunks, almost like you’re chopping for a relish
- 1 clove of garlic
- A splash of olive oil
- Your favourite rustic bread
- Salt and pepper to season
Optional extras:
- 1 tsp mixed dried herbs to taste
- Slices of jamon Serrano
- Manchego cheese
- A little basil or parsley to garnish
Pan con tomate recipe instructions:
- Start by chopping your tomatoes into teeny tiny chunks and set aside in a bowl. We tend to slice a tomato as though you’re planning to make a sandwich and then dice the slices into little chunks that will be easy to when it comes to spooning them out
- Finely chop the garlic and add to the tomates
- Drizzle with olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper. We use extra virgin olive oil for the added taste, but standard olive oil works fine
- Cover your tomato mix and put it in the fridge to rest and build flavour. You can use it straight away or you can leave it for an hour or so to allow the garlic to infuse the oil and tomato mix
- While the pan con tomate topping mix is in the fridge and when you’re ready to serve up, cut slices of the toast and brown under a grill on both sides. If you’ve got a skillet, you can use that to toast up the bread to give it some cool looking browned lines
- In its simplest form, all you need to do now is spoon the Spanish tomatoe mix onto your toast and serve
- However, if you want to dress it up further you can add any or all of the optional extras to give even more impact to the recipe. Simply stir in the dried herbs before you refrigerate the mix, and top with either or both the Seranno ham and manchego cheese. You can also try melting the cheese under the grill to make it a warm version of the dish
- The last flourish is to top with a little fresh basil or parsley if you want to
