Simple, quality ingredients are the hallmarks of a lot of European cooking, in my opinion. I spent some time in Spain this past summer and thoroughly enjoyed the popular dish pan con tomate. It has a whopping 4 ingredients! It is easy to make and even easier to eat.
Four ingredients. It all starts with the bread. Buy an artisan bread at your local bakery or grocery store's bakery; mine is the Italian bread from Whole Foods. I like fresh vine-ripened tomatoes (do not refrigerate). You also need Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO). Finally, I splurged and bought the real deal sea salt which makes a huge difference in texture and especially flavor but of course you can use plain sea salt too.
Cut the bread into thick 1 inch slices.
If you're making a lot for several people, broil the bread until golden brown. (Rotate the pan if you want them evenly cooked and keep an eye on them as the difference between golden brown and burnt is slim). For a short cut, if you're making just few pieces for yourself, I cut the larger pieces of bread in half and use my toaster :)
Cut a tomato in half and squeeze the insides onto the bread.
Drizzle olive oil in a zig zag over the bread.
Top with sea salt.
With so few ingredients you will taste and savor all the flavors. Good food can be simple and scrumptious at the same time! Enjoy as an appetizer, snack or along with a salad.
Note: Many online recipes call for a clove of garlic to be rubbed on the bread, but I watched this being made and ate it several times throughout northern Spain and they did not use garlic. Use the garlic if you want an extra layer of flavor, but I honestly don't think it needs it. This is coming from a girl that loves garlic :)
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