At some point over the last two weeks, the “tomato barrier,” as I’ve decided to term it, was broken for this calendar year. Simply put, we’re now seeing actual, real-deal tomatoes — grown in the ground, aided by natural sunlight and (increasingly freakish) warmth, not miniscule or trucked in from faraway lands — for sale at the greenmarket. Always a happy day in my book. The next few months will be filled with all sorts of tomato recipes, be they sauced, stewed, souped, or sandwiched, but I’m choosing to inaugurate the crop with a very simple (but not too simple) pan con tomate.
Pan con tomate is the classic Spanish tapa of crusty bread rubbed with a fresh tomato and garlic. I think most would agree it’s a perfect food. Commonly, the tomato is grated and applied to a slice of bread sizzled in olive oil; I have no qualms whatsoever with that method, and I encourage any and all traditionalists to stick to their approach. In fact, if I was short on time or otherwise disinclined to get creative, I would do it precisely this way.
However, I had a container of Duke’s mayonnaise from a recent trip to Court Street Grocers that demanded to be paired with the season’s first tomatoes, so I decided to tomato sandwich-ify the pan con tomate just a bit. Most of us know, by now, the appeal of griddling a sandwich with some mayo on the outside; it browns beautifully and adds a tangy boost of flavor to the pan-fried bread. The same effect holds for a rustic piece of sourdough in your pan con tomate. Henceforth, I’ll be adding a swipe of mayo to the bread’s exterior before frying in oil.
The other break from tradition that I indulged in concerns the tomatoes. Rather than grating, I peeled them after a quick blanch and chopped the tomato roughly; these went into a bowl with some sliced garlic and lots of salt. I let that sit overnight to hyper-season the tomatoes and draw out all of the flavorful tomato juice, then pulsed it a bit with an immersion blender into a chunky sauce, somewhere between the typical PCT consistency and a tomato bruschetta.
Again, you can amend this any way you like: tomatoes that are grated, rubbed, or pulsed, no garlic in the tomatoes, no basil garnish, no mayo, etc. The only requirements are lots of olive oil, flaky salt, and, of course, great tomatoes.
Pan con Tomate
Ingredients
2-3 medium size red tomatoes (ripe and soil-grown)
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced, plus an additional whole clove
2 slices of rustic bread
1-2 tablespoons of mayonnaise (I like Duke’s for this)
Handful of basil leaves, cut into thin ribbons
Extra virgin olive oil
Flaky salt
Instructions
On the underside of each tomato, cut a shallow “X” shape into the flesh.
Bring a pot of water to boil. Drop the tomatoes in for 30 seconds, until the skin starts to peel. Remove and submerge in cold water.
Remove the skin (it should come off very easily). Roughly chop the peeled tomatoes and discard any excess seeds or tops.
Combine the chopped tomatoes with the sliced garlic in a bowl. Salt generously and mix. Cover and let this sit for at least two hours or up to overnight.
Once the tomatoes have marinated, pulse them a bit with an immersion blender or food processor. I like to avoid fully processing them so they remain chunky. You may want to drain a small amount of the liquid if it’s too watery, but retain enough so that the tomato is still loose and viscous.
Spread an even amount of mayonnaise on one side of each bread slice.
Set a pan over medium-high heat and add a generous amount of olive oil.
When hot, add the slices of bread and press down with a spatula. Cook until one side is golden brown. Remove from the pan and sprinkle with salt.
When the bread has sufficiently cooled, rub the whole garlic clove over the crusty side, making sure to get as much garlic as possible into the nooks and crannies.
Add your tomato to the bread; garnish with olive oil, flaky salt, and basil.