Cultural Fundaments: Pa Amb Tomàquet

Pa amb tomàquet (pronounced pam tomaket) is Catalan for ‘bread with tomato’, and is a staple of so-called peasant cuisine. As simple as it sounds, however, this regional specialty is as versatile as it is delicious – and it’s one of the most fundamental components of the region’s world-renowned cuisine.

The tradtional recipe calls for rustic country pan, which is both wider and denser than other kinds and, when cut lengthwise, this style of bread ensures that each slice is backed by a crust. Typically, it will be left to stale for additional rigidity and sometimes it will be toasted as well.

There is a special type of tomato used for pa amb tomaquet – small with a hard outer skin and native to Catalonia – and it must be ripe, squishy and full of juice before it’s used. This is sliced horizontally (with the eye on one side and the base on the other) to reduce waste, and squeezed slightly to let excess water out. Starting at the edge of the bread, the tomato is worked in toward the centre in a rubbing motion, transferring all of the rich pulp until only the skin remains. By the end of this process, the whole surface should be completely covered with pulp and seeds.

This will then be doused liberally with extra virgin olive oil to carry the tomato deep into the bread, along with just enough sea salt to bring out the natural flavors without overpowering them. Sea salt is traditionally used, as opposed to rock salt, to be in-keeping with the Catalan tradition of fusing ingredients of the mar i muntanya (sea and mountains, or surf and turf), and sometimes anchovies can be used instead.

As with other cultural fundamentals, the pa amb tomàquet is often the subject of heated debate; some argue that the olive oil should go on last, to sit on top after the salted tomato pulp has seeped into the bread, while others oil the bread first with garlic.

But whatever the method, since this dish is so basic, it’s always vital the ingredients are the finest available, and the raw simplicity of this dish allows them to really shine on their own merits.

Celebrity Catalonian chef Ferran Adrià has his own contemporary take on this dish – a deconstruction of the ingredients in which a tomato sorbet is served in a glass, topped with a bread ‘airbag’ filled with extra virgin olive oil. But there’s something cold about his interpretation, and it’s not just the sorbet. Pa amb tomàquet is one of those cultural constants, one of those simple dishes that’s warm, humble and perhaps a little unrefined, but nevertheless perfect as it is. Cataloninians are passionate on this point and there’s even an annual festival to celebrate it in Santa Coloma de Farners, as well as a competition – l’Olimpiada del Pa amb Tomàquet – in which chefs compete to create the best, depending on the finest ingredients rather than the wackiest imagination.

Although this snack is delicious by itself, it is often topped with cured meats (perhaps jamón ibérico, fuet, espetec, or chorizo), cheese, or fish.

In the Mediterranean Baleric Islands, and Majorca in particular, they call it pa amb oli (meaning bread with oil) and use tomatoes from Ramellet, which are more sour than those used in Catalonia.

In Seville, bread is topped with olive oil and slices of tomato, whilst elsewhere in Spain, tomato pulp is often served in a separate dish, already mixed with salt and oil, for people to spoon onto their tostada for breakfast.

Properly made, the one thing that all pa amb tomàquet has in common is that it must be made at leisure, carefully and with attention to detail. Corny to say, perhaps, but it really does seem as though the key ingredient to this iconic Spanish snack is good old fashioned love. Aww

come try our home made Pa Amb Tomàquet at Ataula, and let us know what you think. Reserve your table at Portland’s best authentic Spanish restaurant today on 503-894-8904 or send us an email to info@ataulapdx.com See you soon for tapas.