WIAW #26: Catalan Tomato Bread

I'm finally back in the swing of things with work but of course I still have to eat! After a busy Mother's day we have been busily eating up the leftovers that were left behind by our extended family. No matter what we will be eating well for the next few days!

So as always I thought I'd share a few of those eats with you, courtesy of the hosting stylings of the fantastic Jenn at Peas and Crayons!

Breakfast

Bowl of Great Grains Cranberry Crunch cereal with fat-free milk

Cup of tea with splash of half-n-half

Lunch

Coronation chicken salad on honey wheat bread with arugula

Chobani strawberry Greek yoghurt mixed with chopped nuts and a fiber one chocolate drizzle bar

Two dried prunes

Tazo Peach iced tea

Two bottles of water

Dinner

Ziti and two turkey meatballs with kale and sauteed onions

Semi-Homemade Catalan Tomato Bread
Homemade bruschetta

glass of red wine


Dessert


one Double chocolate caramel icecream bar split with Aaron

Ever since coming back from Barcelona, I have wanted to recreate Catalan tomato bread that is served in all the tapas bars around Cataluyna. This is one of the signature foods of Catalan cuisine and one of the things my Aunt Janet told me to eat by the ton when I arrived. As a woman who lived in Barcelona for 10 years (+?) I took her word for it and as usual, she was right. Normally this bread is grilled and then rubbed with the tomato and garlic. But since the weather in Small Town, PA has been perpetually rainy and miserable, I baked mine. If you have a charcoal grill handy, give the original a try but the baked version will work for the rest of us.

Pa amb tomàquet (or Tomato Bread) is primarily just grilled and then rubbed with garlic and tomato guts then salted and drizzled with olive oil. This is probably the easiest, least complicated recipe I have ever post, but that is a good thing.

Now, as I don’t waste food, I simply used the leftover garlic and tomato for a pretty awesome bruschetta, but that’s just me. The leftover tomato and garlic can also be thrown into any dish you are making alongside this bread. Since bruschetta is Italian and this bread is Spanish, eat in separate meals.

Catalan Tomato Bread: 8 servings
(Adapted from Food and Wine Magazine)

Ingredients:

1 crispy baguette (long, cut into about 8 pieces, sliced in half)

2-3 ripe tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic, cut in half

Coarse salt

Black pepper

Extra virgin olive oil (if you have Spanish, that’s preferable)



Directions:

For Grilling:

Preheat the grill to medium-high. Grill the bread slices until crisp and nicely browned, 2 to 4 minutes per side.

For baking:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush bread with a little olive oil and bake on a cookie sheet for about 5 minutes or until crisp and lightly brown.

After crispy, rub each piece with the cut side of the garlic clove, then use the tomato cut in half and rub one side of the tomato on 1-2 slices of bread, leaving lots of tomato pulp on the bread.

Drizzle each slice with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Eat immediately.

Enjoy!

Love,

The College Cuisiner