summer's end pan con tomate

september, how to make good toasties without setting off the smoke alarm, hot yoga

Sometimes I think I really get Billy Joe and his desire to disappear through the whole month of September. Granted, I haven’t had an immense personal tragedy at the beginning of the month like he did (thank GOD) but I do feel like it always slaps me a little bit in the face. And I don’t even know why! I love the end of summer and the slow slide into fall. I spend a great amount of energy both getting jazzed for the chill in the air and refusing to let myself celebrate that before I stuff myself to the gills with tomatoes and melon and corn.

With that said, we’re not doing complicated here and now. We’re not toiling away in the kitchen. We want fast snacks to go with cold wine. We want quick bites to eat over the counter, tomato juice dripping down our elbows and our fingers slippery with the best olive oil. We’re practically begging for pan con tomate.

cats can inspect

If you’re not aware, pan con tomate is a simple Spanish snack of bread and tomatoes - sometimes just a tomato rubbed onto grilled bread….but……I need my tomato juices or I simply will die of thirst. So, we’re broiling the bread, rubbing it with garlic, and heaping it with a seasoned pile of grated tomato. If you’re buying heirlooms, like I did, your pan con tomate can indeed be brat. If you don’t know what that means, feel free to read this, a NYT article I sent my dad to explain.

So, this is it. Tomato toast. I’m into it, you’ll be into it, and we’ll get back to baking next week. In the meantime, I’ll be doing hot yoga. Sweat out the toxins, let in the tomato.

just me, my compression socks, and my snacks

pan con tomate
no true amounts. make as few or as many as you’d like.

Good bread, sliced relatively thin

Garlic clove, cut in half

Olive oil

Tomatoes

Kosher salt

Flaky salt

directions

Heat your broiler to high, and line a baking sheet with a baking rack, if you have it (helps the bottom get crisp too). If you don’t, just line the pan with foil. Place your bread on the pan, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt. Broil until bread is golden and edges are deep brown. You want it crispy! Once you pull it out, rub each toast all over with the cut side of the garlic.

Grab a box grater and a big bowl (less mess). Cut your tomatoes in half and grate the cut sides thoroughly, until all that’s left is the skin. Discard skins and season grated tomatoes to taste with kosher salt.

Heap grated tomato on toasts, drizzle generously with more olive oil and sprinkle with flaky salt.

side notes

In case you were wondering why CNN canceled Crossfire in the early 2000s, here you go. I live for this man, and I appreciate this moment.

Okay, bye! Love ya!