pamtomaca, pà amb tomaquet

pamtomaca, pà amb tomaquet
From: Nava

A Catalan invention; "pà amb tomaquet" means "bread with tomato." The other spelling is how it sounds to someone who can't spell Catalan, the stress is on the ma. In Spanish bars you can see either spelling. In Catalonia and the Balearic Isles, baguette sandwhiches from bars are with tomato by default; in other parts of the country you need to ask for the tomato.

You need: overripe tomatoes, (salt) , oil, (garlic), (toasted) bread, (ham, salami...).

The toasting isn't optional with sliced bread, as that one simply isn't solid enough to withstand the process otherwise. If you like it with garlic, cut a garlic clove in half and squash it over the bread before you do it with the tomato; it should be sort of trail-like, rather than trying to cover all the bread in garlic taste. Recomendation: don't mix garlic and other extras, everybody I know who's tried it says it doesn't work well.

The tomatoes should be too ripe to be used in a salad. Cut them through the equator. Flip them on the bread, so the triangular spaces where the tomato keeps its seeds are directly in contact with the bread. Push it around, so all the bread gets tomatoed. Toss away the remaining of the tomato (unless you're my Grandpa, who just salts it and munches it away because "i'z a zin da zrow au' 'ood" "don't lie, Grandpa, you just like it" "true that, are you done with the other half?").

Pour a biiiiiit of oil on the bread. Don't drench it, please, or at least do it where my arteries and tastebuds won't be offended by the sight. If you're having the pamtomaca by itself, you can introduce it to the salt shaker (who is in a hurry to go away).

Great by itself, or with sliced ham (York, prosciutto, serrano), salami...; either as a tapa (one slice of bread, the meat on top) or as a sandwhich.