Pan de tomate, pan tomate or campesino (rural, of the country), are all Spanish expressions for a simple dish that sounds mundane but makes for a blissful breakfast.
Mediterranean Diet
Lightly toasted bread , rich, fruity olive oil, garlic, and fresh tomato sprinkled with a little salt are all the ingredients needed to make that first meal of the day to die for. Packed full of vitamins and bursting with the flavors of the Mediterranean this is such a healthy start to the day that maybe you won’t die quite so quickly. Or maybe you’ll think you have already died and are enjoying ambrosia with the gods.
And such a simple dish to prepare. Take one of those big, juicy tomatoes so common in southern Europe, slice in half and, holding the skin side, pulp on the coarse side of a cheese grater. Be sure to catch all the juice. That’s the topping finished.
Lightly toast bread of your choice and peel one clove of garlic per person.
Garlic and Virgin Olive Oil
To serve place a clove of garlic and a couple of rounds of toast on each plate. Hand round a jug of good quality, virgin olive oil and a dish of the freshly pulped tomato.
To eat introduce the clove of garlic to the toast without encouraging too close a relationship, pour oil liberally over the bread followed by spoonfuls of the freshly pulped tomato. Finish with a sprinkling of salt. Enjoy; and you can always wash your hands with a little of the oil if the raw garlic wants to hang out with you for the rest of the day.
Tomatoes were once thought to have aphrodisiacal qualities and whilst this isn’t exactly a breakfast with Viagra it will certainly pep you up.
A 5.5 oz serving of tomatoes can include as much as
- Calories 35
- Protein 1 gram
- Carbohydrates 6 grams
- Fat 1 gam
- sodium 10 mg
Percantage of daily values
- Vitamin A 20%
- Vitamin C 40%
- Potassium 10%
- Iron 2%
In Spain it is even better to enjoy this dish at one of the numerous cafes with outside tables. And, after all the goodness of this typically Spanish dish a second cup of coffee shouldn´t do too much harm. Allowing a gentle start to the digestive processes whilst watching the world go by.
Reports on the health giving properties of tomatoes should be viewed with caution, but there have been encouraging studies linking lypocene, a powerful antioxidant found almost exclusively in tomatoes, with the battle against some forms of cancer.
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