SPANISH TOMATO BREAD

I sit at my desk here in Arkansas, hands on keyboard, wanting to write something, but what? It is a distraction, looking out of the window at a blizzard of snowflakes dashing through the air. I am at home and not at the shop because under this snow is a sheet of ice……………..everywhere. Ah, a snow day.
This morning it seemed all this cold calls for hot cocoa and something heavy and sweet and comforting, but we’ve already done that quite a bit this winter; much more often than is called for during a normal Arkansas winter. Thoughts wander to the Mediterranean sunshine and light and, of course, food. Yes, a Spanish breakfast is just the thing! Tomato Bread is what we have almost every morning when in Spain, sometimes accompanied by other goodies, maybe a soft boiled egg, some hard tangy cheese, but most often, Jamón Serrano or Iberico, which is cured ham made from the pork tenderloin. To me, it seems the Spanish answer to Italian prosciutto…..either will do! My mouth begins to water, so let’s get cooking:

Spanish Tomato Bread…..
Start with a loaf of Mediterranean firm open textured bread. This may sound difficult, but it’s not. Picture on the left is of the local spanish bread, baked daily in a wood fired oven at the local village bakery, actually twice a day! The other picture is of an Arkansas loaf I purchased (Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market) and although not exactly the same, it is very good. There you have the basis for the most exciting bread you will ever eat.

Also needed is:

Fresh garlic

Ripe tomatoes

Good quality extra virgin Olive Oil ……did I tell you, at the home in Spain there is an old olive grove, which when properly tended, picked and pressed, provides us with olive oil of our own…..how neat is that?

The amount of each ingredient, of course, depends upon how much bread you will make, but a guide is that for each slice of bread, it takes about 1 clove of garlic and half of a large tomato or the whole of a small one such as a Roma. What is important, if possible, is to have a good tasting RIPE tomato.

1. Cut nice thick slices of your bread, what a comforting feeling it is to slice fresh bread!

2. Grill or toast the bread. The ideal is over a wood fire, but who has that at home? I use an electric grill/ Panini contraption which my children so knowingly gave me for Christmas this year, but even a skillet oven a burner will do. Just make sure it is very hot and do not use any fat or oil at this point.

3. Peel the fresh garlic. Garlic peels so easily if you place the unpeeled clove on a firm surface, position the side of the blade of a chef’s knife on it and give the knife a good whack. The peel then comes off very easily. Once the grilled bread is ready and good and hot, rub it all over with a clove of garlic. The roughness of the toasted bread will act like sandpaper on the garlic and the heat will actually help melt the garlic onto the bread. Don’t worry, the garlic taste is not strong, just divine.

4. Proceed to the tomato, cut it crossway in half and while gently squeezing it, also rub it across the bread. Be bold with this step, the more tomato, the better.

5. Finally drizzle, liberally, the olive oil over the whole thing. Voilà!

You simply must try this

it is so good, so delicious, so good for you, so easy, so fast

 so you simply must try it!