Pan tostado con tomate

I don't know about other Americans, but when I think of toast, I think of putting jelly or garlic and butter on top.  It's not to say that Spaniards don't put jelly on their toast too sometimes, they just prefer tomato.  I would never think to put tomato.  But, when in Spain, do what the Spanish do.  So I tried it.

Definitely was not impressed.  Of course, I'm pretty difficult to impress when it comes to bread anyways.  I pretty much won't touch Bimbo style bread.  Over processed, bleached white bread.  No way man.

But, I also don't like my good bread too toasted, or too dry or too soggy.  Haha!!  How do you please someone like me in a place like Spain where all of those (in my humble opinion) nasty bread conditions are all too easy to encounter?

The trick:  Watch someone else.  I was sitting in my favorite cafe, sipping on my coffee and thinking about what risky bread selection I was going to make when I saw a lady out of the corner of my eye preparing her toast.

"Whoa," I thought, "that was much more complicated than I was expecting."  So I gave pan tostado con tomate another chance.  Her way.

So here it is ladies and gentlemen.  My new favorite breakfast if you can believe it.  

My order is: Cafe con leche y pan tostado, integral, entera con tomate.  An espresso with milk and an entire toasted wheat bread with tomato.

Everyone does this a little differently, but here is everything I've learned about this breakfast.

First, the proper order is very important.  If the tomato doesn't come on the side, ask for it on the side.  "con el tomate al lado."  Because the first thing on your bread should be olive oil.  A lot of it.  I think I put more olive oil every time.  I even learned from a friend to poke holes in the bread with the spoon so that  the oil could really get down in the bread.  

Then comes the tomato.  It's just grated tomato.  Maybe some oil and salt mixed in, but not much and at this cafe, I don't think they add any.  If you're like me and eat a lot, make sure you wait to put tomato on the other slice, don't want it getting soggy. :P  Then just a sprinkle of salt.  (Through trial and error I learned that salt is best last, before I was putting it with the oil like the lady.)

So simple, so delicious.  The flavor of the bread soaked in oil is unbelievably delicious.  The salt is essential.  Don't put too much, but I at least must have it.  Did I mention that this is almost always less than 2 euros.  <3 Spain.