Pan Con Tomate for a Quick and Easy Appetizer Idea

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Of all the things I put together for our little cinco de mayo dinner party this weekend, the pan con tomate was one of the favorites! For good reason – the bread is perfectly crunchy without hurting your mouth, the tomatoes are bringing in tomato season, and salty, savory, the olive oil is velvety. Highly recommend. We may or may not have had these two days in a row!

It’s pretty simple to make. I recommend making the tomato mixture ahead and letting it hang out in the fridge for a few hours. Bring it to room temp before serving. You can also make it and enjoy right away, but those flavors really do develop after a bit of time.

I always laugh when Ina says “use the good olive oil!” – like, why are we contemplating anything other than good olive oil? But truly in a simple dish like this, a good quality olive oil is important. I’m a big fan of Graza Drizzle finishing oil – the price is solid and the quality is really wonderful – very flavorful. I get mine at Whole Foods!

Pan con Tomate

Perfect idea for a quick and easy appetizer or side dish.
Cook Time 20 minutes
Course Appetizer
Servings 12 toasts

Ingredients
  

Toasts

  • 12 slices ciabatta bread, about 1" thick
  • 6 tbsp butter (or more based on your preference)
  • salt, to taste

Tomato Mixture

  • 1 large beefsteak tomato
  • 1 large clove of garlic
  • 1-2 tbsp salt, or more, to taste
  • 1 pinch pepper, or more, to taste
  • 1 tbsp good quality extra virgin olive oil, plus more for garnish (optional)
  • finishing salt, like maldon, for garnish, optional

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with foil and oil spray.
  • Slice ciabatta and spread 1/2 tbsp of butter on each side (or more. to be honest, I just eyeballed it all).
  • Pop bread into the oven for about 20 minutes, or until bread reaches desired color (I wanted to get that rich, golden color throughout the whole toast).
  • While the bread is in the oven, slice the bottom of your tomato and grate it against a box grater into a bowl.
  • Once done, microplane one large garlic clove into the mixture.
  • Add the olive oil, salt, pepper and stir well to combine. Taste for salt and pepper.
  • Top each piece of bread with about a tbsp of the tomato mixture, top with some crunchy salt and a little more olive oil for garnish.
  • See notes about making this ahead.

Notes

If you want to make this ahead, assemble the tomato mixture the day or a few hours before and cover and place in the fridge. The tomato mixture gets more flavorful the longer it sits. 
You’ll want your tomato mixture to be room temperature, so remove from the fridge when you start heating up the bread. Once the bread is done, top with your now room-temp tomato mixture and a dash more olive oil. Enjoy! 

Peach & Burrata Salads with Rosé Vinaigrette

Now that summer is in full swing – heat and crazy storms and all – I can’t get enough of peaches, watermelon and grilling. So I guess expect a whole lot of that? The whole house – myself, hubby and Harper – were all loving this peach and burrata salad with rosé vinaigrette I made this week.

The peaches were so juicy and bursting with flavor. Harper kept running around with peaches in her hand, asking for more. Hubby and I topped some toasted sourdough with ours while we waited for dinner to come off the grill – it was the perfect appetizer.

Roasted Shredded Brussels Sprouts on Hummus Toast

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Quarantine has really challenged me to step up my lunch game. Having just gone back to work, it’s nice to have something to look forward to and not have a #saddesklunch. It feels like a blessing to be home and have the space to be a little more creative, especially in the middle of the day.

These hummus toasts come together in just 20 minutes, most of which you’re just roasting up the brussels sprouts. You use store bought hummus, spread it over the toasts, spread the brussels sprouts over them and BAM you’ve got lunch, sis!

Chickpea & Pepper Salad

This one is fondly known around here as the “pizza salad.” All of the spices combine together and kind of, sort of, if you close your eyes, taste a little bit like pizza. Listen, when you’re trying to lighten up a few meals, this one is a good choice – the flavors hit the spot and has enough protein that it’s satisfying.

This is a great recipe for meal prep – the flavors really develop in the fridge, or if you just need to whip up a quick lunch on a weekday between zoom meetings.

10 Minute Chicken Tostadas

Anyone else keep putting on jeans just to keep themselves in check during quarantine? I’m finding myself reaching for comforting food, and definitely baking more than usual, so we are trying to reign it in a little over the next few weeks. These chicken tostadas are so quick and easy. You can 100% customize them, and they’ve got a reasonable calorie count for how much flavor they pack.

So, you do you on these, but you definitely want to make this cumin lime crema. You can put it on anything – grilled chicken, veggie kabobs, some crispy potatoes – anything!

3 Ingredient Weeknight Dinner: Mozzarella Stuffed Sausages

Pregnancy has been doing some interesting things to our weeknight dinner routine. For one, I’m super picky and I’ve never, ever been a picky eater. There are things I’ll have on repeat, to hubby’s chagrin, every single week, multiple times per week. PLUS most days I have 0 energy to actually make a nice dinner for us, so quick and easy really hits the spot.

These mozzarella stuffed sausages have been on REPEAT in our house, at least twice a week. It’s so easy, you need 3 ingredients!

Cucumber Salad with Mint, Basil and Trader Joe’s EBTB Seasoning

Guys, I am so into mint and basil chopped up on and in everything (see: herbed turkey meatballs). One of my 2019 Bucket List items was finishing dishes with fresh herbs or lemon/lime, and I’ve been all over it all year, but especially so now that the weather has finally broken.

This time of year begs for fresh flavors, crisp veggies, and overall light and quick meals. Really, who wants to turn on the stove anyway?! And less time in the kitchen means more time outside, or at the beach, lake or pool. Sign me up!

7-Minute Grilled Pesto Pizzas

Oh how I love some grilled pizza, year-round, but especially in the summer. On Friday nights, we host a Fire Pit Friday with grilled pizza for all our friends and family. For that, we use the Trader Joe’s crusts, but when it’s just myself and hubby at the pool, we love to use a loaf of French bread, topped with pesto, mozz and cherry tomatoes. And it’s literally ready in 7 minutes!

Food poolside always feels like such a challenge to my creativity – kind of like when you’re trying to have a picnic and have to come up with something easy to eat, clean up and something that can hold up to the hotter weather.

30-minute Herbed Turkey Meatballs Recipe

Dinner ready in 30 minutes? Yes, please! I commute pretty far during the week (minimum 1.5 hours on the way home every day) and by the time I get into the kitchen I really don’t want to make something that takes a long time or a lot of effort. A turkey meatball is always a reliable choice, especially when they’re ready in 30 minutes (25 of which are spent in the oven)!

I like to strategically pick my weeknight dinners, usually opting for something that has to bake or simmer for at least 15 minutes. This gives me time to get at least one chore done while we wait for our dinner to be ready – love to switch the laundry, put a load away, do a load of dishes, or, more often than not, wash my face and put on pajamas.

Once dinner is made, I’m kind of down for the count. I’ll play with the pups, or work on a new recipe or do some “research” for “inspiration” on Pinterest. The last thing I want to do at night is clean! So, I get in a few minutes to tidy up while dinner does its thing.

Tomato Ricotta Toasts

Toast-for-dinner is one of my go-tos for nights when I have no time, or get home late, or feel incredibly uninspired. And then, every time we do actually have toast, it always feels like such a little treat!

It’s such a simple idea that once you make a few different variations, you’ll have them in your back pocket when you need a quick meal or are having one of those no-idea-what-to-make-for-dinner kind of nights.