Pa amb tomàquet: the Catalan bread technique

Catalonia, Spain

Catalan bread rubbed with ripe tomato and drizzled with olive oil — the daily act of eating in Catalonia. This is not bruschetta, not toast with tomato spread. The technique is specific: a ripe tomato (not a supermarket tomato — a pen de ramallet or a soft, overripe tomato) is cut in half and rubbed with gentle pressure across the cut surface of slightly stale bread until the pulp saturates the crumb. What remains is almost nothing — a skin and seeds. The bread absorbs the tomato water, acid, and colour. Then salt. Then a generous pour of Catalan olive oil. This is the foundation of the Catalan table. Nothing begins without it.

Not yet written for this entry.

Not yet written for this entry.