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1
Toast the slices of Pa de pagès until the surface is uniformly golden and the crust is firm to the touch. The bread must be hot when the tomato is applied — remove it from the heat source and proceed immediately.
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2
Take a halved garlic clove and pass it once across the hot surface of each slice with light pressure. One pass is sufficient. The tomato's acid applied in the next step will amplify any raw garlic note remaining on the surface — do not repeat the pass.
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3
This is where the dish lives or dies. Press a tomato half, cut-face down, firmly onto the garlicked surface and rub it in steady, even passes across the entire slice. The friction must extract juice and pulp from the seed cavities — not merely graze the surface. Continue until the bread has absorbed the pulp into its open crumb and the surface carries an even, near-jamlike deposit. Wet and dry patches indicate uneven coverage; correct before moving on.
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4
Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil over each slice after the tomato is applied, not before. The oil seals the tomato's moisture into the surface rather than preventing its absorption. Finish with coarse sea salt.
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5
Serve immediately, plain or with jamón ibérico, boquerones, or aged cheese laid on top. The bread should yield a faint crunch at the crust and give way to a moist, pulp-laden crumb beneath — the balance between the two is the mark of correct execution.