Grilled Garlic Bread

Wow this was delicious. We made the tomato version with the technique described by Ricard in the comments: toast the bread, rub with garlic, then tomato, the drizzle with olive oil and flaky sea salt. The only deviation was that I crisped the bread a little more on the grill after dressing it.

My mother made this back in the 60s in the summer. She’d grill a steak, probably a sirloin, lay the slices of steak on one half of the garlic bread and put the top on and slice on the diagonal into sandwiches. I make it now with soy-garlic-marinated flank steak sliced very thin and some arugula. Gilding the garlic lily? Maybe. But delicious.

So, elinimate the tomato, and spread peanutbutter in the toast. You'll be suprised.

I’d thinly slice that tomato and slide it onto the very hot bread. Sprinkle with some flakey salt and be amazed!

I slice the baguettes diagonally so as to up the surface area for the EVOO and raw garlic to works it's magic. I just broil one side, I love that there's a garlicky, crunchy side and a softer side that's perfect for sopping up sauce. This bread works well with steamed mussels or the crispy fried feta recipe from the NYT.

what bread can I use for this?

With tomato, this is called pan amb tomaquet, and it's amazing.

This bread is so delicious and so easy! I toasted it very lightly on the grill (in the same spot where we’d just grilled a flank steak) and then really let it gain that darker crust after the olive oil went on. I was very skeptical that the unpeeled garlic strategy would work, but it turned out great. The flavor is more subtle than the saturated garlic bread that I’d expect from a chain restaurant, but also much more interesting. Maldon salt to finish is key!

I prefer this with white rather than whole grain bread. A nice white baguette let’s the garlic come through. And if you microplane the garlic on instead of rubbing you’ll get more garlic flavor and won’t shred the bread.

This is exactly the same as Pa amb tomàquet, the typical bread with tomato eaten in Catalonia. The only difference is we just grill the bread once, at the beginning. Then rub it with garlic, then tomato, salt, and olive oil. I don't recommend to rub the tomato after the olive oil cause the grease doesn't allow the juices of the tomato to go in the bread (and its the whole point). It's the perfect companion to Spanish omelet.

Great recipe, but can you please also shared some lower carb or med diet options? Middle aged readers need to avoid that unsightly belly bulge. Thanks!

My mom's version is not grilled but it is much better than this. Melt enough butter for the loaf you will be using; mince garlic and add to the melted butter. Slice loaf top down but do NOT cut all the way through, Brush each slice with melted butter and garlic. Wrap the loaf in foil and lets it warm in slow oven until the pasta dish (or whatever) is done. It can slip in next to a casserole in the oven as well. It's super! And, yes, you may have to lick your fingers.

The garlic/olive oil/tomato is a plain steal from Barcelona. Even easier, a French version : whole-grain baguette cut length-wise, then coated with crushed garlic/salt/olive oil; broil 5 minutes in an oven. Serve as is or quickly spread with crushed/chopped tomato (coeur de boeuf).

Well I do slightly differently. I mix oil oil with one tea spoon of red pepper