Pan Con Tomate on Melba ‘True Loaf’ Toasts
These melba toasts are a simple but yummy savoury snack, ideal as canapes for festive drinks over the coming season.
These are ideally made with days-old sourdough, to give the toasts a perfect crunch after toasting and as a way to use up any leftover bread that is on the turn.
Ingredients (serves 6):
- 5 Slices white country ‘true loaf’
- 7 Large ripe tomatoes
- 2 Garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp Sea salt
- Handful of fresh basil leaves
- 2tbsp. Mas Amadeo Olive Oil
- Ground black pepper
- Lemon (juiced)
Firstly, preheat the grill setting on the oven to 230C with a rack in the top slot of the oven.
Whilst the oven is heating up, toast your bread slices in a toaster and grate the tomatoes into a bowl.
Once the slices are out of the toaster, peel a garlic clove and rub the clove onto each bread slice to infuse it with flavour.
Then, halve each slice horizontally across the depth of the bread.
Cut each of these halves into triangles and lay them onto the grill tray and drizzle over some olive oil.
Place the tray under the grill for a couple of minutes on each side. (Make sure to check regularly; the bread doesn’t take long to burn as it’s so thin!)
Once toasted, remove from the oven and allow to cool.
NB.: It also doesn’t matter if these triangles aren’t perfect – with an artisan loaf it’ll be expected to look a bit more rough and rustic; Similarly, the bread is more likely to be thicker than shop-bought pre-sliced loaves.
Whilst the melba toasts are cooling, mince or grate the garlic clove into the bowl with the grated tomatoes, sprinkling over the sea salt.
Finely chop the basil and mix in, along with a generous glug of olive oil, black pepper and a squeeze of lemon.
A couple of minutes before you are ready to serve and eat them, spoon some of the tomato mixture onto each melba toast. Drizzle with more olive oil and sprinkle on some finely chopped basil and salt to finish.
