Pa amb tomàquet

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Template:Lang (Template:IPA), also known as pa amb tomata<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> or pa amb tomaca<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (all meaning "bread with tomato" in Catalan), is a traditional food of Valencian, Catalan, Aragonese and Balearic cuisine. Template:Lang is considered a staple of Catalan cuisine and identity.

It consists of bread, which may or may not be toasted, with optional garlic rubbed over the surface, seasoned with olive oil and salt and topped with fresh rubbed-in tomato. It is sometimes used as a vessel for cured ham and other types of cured meats.

It is considered one of the typical examples that define the Mediterranean diet, extended as a traditional recipe throughout the Catalan Countries, and its preparation has become an iconic ritual of Western Mediterranean culture.

It is popularly consumed on its own as a snack, as sandwich or a tapa with any meal, from breakfast to dinner.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Preparation

In some restaurants, the tomato is spread on the bread, while others provide the guests with the ingredients to do the work themselves.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The dish is served accompanied with any sorts of sausages (such as cured botifarres, xoriço, fuet, Iberian ham, or others), ham, cheeses, omelettes, anchovies or other marinated fish, or grilled vegetables like escalivada.

In Majorca, Template:Lang ("bread with oil") is prepared with tomato called Template:Lang, a specific variety of vine tomatoes, smaller and with a taste that is slightly more intense and sour than normal tomatoes due to the loss of acidity in the tomato.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The original base used to be made with toasted slices of Template:Lang ("farmer's bread"), a typical round loaf of wheat bread of a fair size (from Template:Convert, from some Template:Convert in diameter).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

If the mixture is not pre-made, there is said to be an ideal order in which the ingredients are integrated to yield the best flavour. First, if used, the garlic is rubbed on the bread. Then the same is done with the tomato. Next comes the salt, and lastly the olive oil.Template:Cn

History

The origin of this dish is disputed, as tomato is relatively new to Catalan cuisine (it came from America only after the 15th century). Widely regarded as the epitome of Catalan cuisine and identity, some sources claim it is actually a relatively recent (mid to late 19th century) in all the Mediterranean coast of Spain.Template:Cn

Catalan chef Josep Lladonosa i Giró says it was first documented in the 18th century.<ref name=jlg>La cuina tradicional catalana a l'abast, pg. 96, Josep Lladonosa i Giró, 2005, Columna Cuina, Template:ISBN</ref> The cook, born in 1938, remembers his grandmother explaining that her parents used to eat a dish called Template:Lang.<ref name=jlg/> With better precision, Catalan cooking historian Nèstor Luján says that the first written reference is from 1884 and, according to his thesis, the recipe would have been created in the rural world during an abundant tomato harvest. People would have used the tomatoes to soften hard and dry bread.<ref name=jlg/>

The dish shares some similarities with the tomato and olive oil-rubbed ħobż biz-Zejt of Malta, with the pan-bagnat of Nice, in the Provence region of France, the tomato-topped version of Italian bruschetta.Template:Cn