Pan Catalana

A community recipe by TimBris83

Not tested or verified by Nigella.com

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Introduction

This is one of my favourite munchies in the world. It evokes wonderful memories of eating this with a glass of really good rioja in the shadow of the beautiful Santa Maria del Mar in Barcelona, wondering if life could get any better. It is utterly simple to prepare, however do make sure your tomatoes are very red, ripe and soft to the touch. It can be very difficult to find decent tomatoes in this country and I think it is worth while spending that little bit more for tomatoes on the vine if shopping in the supermarket.

Ingredients

Serves: 1

1 baguette (cut into 2cm thick rounds, or any good crusty bread cut into small portions)
extra virgin olive oil (good quality, for drizzling - approximately 2 tablespoons per slice of bread)
Maldon salt
tomatoes (half a tomato per slice of bread)

Method

Pan Catalana is a community recipe submitted by TimBris83 and has not been tested by Nigella.com so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe.

Pre-heat a medium-hot grill

Drizzle 1 side of each slice of bread with olive oil and spread the oil about with the back of a spoon (this can also be done with a pastry brush)

Place the bread oil side up and grill until golden and toasty. Remove from grill.

Turn the bread over and drizzle this side of the bread with olive oil. Give each slice a generous sprinkling of Maldon sea salt. Once again, grill this side until nice and toasty and golden. You need this side to be fairly firm.

Remove from grill. Halve tomatoes. Rub each slice of bread with half a tomato. If your tomatoes are good and ripe the tomato should deposit its flesh and pulp on the bread.

Serve immediately. Tip- If your tomato halves are under-ripe you can give them a helping hand by turning them inside out before rubbing on the bread. This helps the pulp to break from the flesh, or you can also lightly roast them to help break down the flesh, however this will impart a slightly different flavour.