Spanish garlic bread

I remembered sitting in Todi’s rifugio near Montgrony waiting for dinner to be served. Todi was the mountain guide of the area, he offered guided tours to the nearby mountain regions, climbing courses, he offered beds and also it was possible to camp at his site. A few guys from New Zealand took the rooms upstairs, busy writing sms on their mobile phones hoping that the rain would stop soon. They had a nice kitchen to use for themselves, a dining table in the community room, electricity and showers. The rifugio had a rustic atmosphere,  it was built out of stone,
the fireplace was lighted,
warm and cosy, wind protected….

We were the only ones who were going to get cooked food from him - I was too lazy to do any cooking that night and the weather was just wet, awful and cold outside - nope, no way getting me out there. And I was really starving. He had on his menu “Menu of the day” and that was what we ordered. He tried explaining to us, we said ok, but never really understood what it was - nevertheless, he reassured us he was going to cook us up a feast. He left for the kitchen, started the fire on his stove, whistling a merry tune alone in the kitchen. The fire was big, but it didn’t matter. The grill was laid, and I saw how 2 baguettes landed on those grill to get toasted…5 mins past…where was he? Busy on the opposite corner, when he suddenly realised something was burning - Damm! Those baguettes burnt much too quickly on the fire…he swore and scolded something in spanish - he sure didn’t sound happy. Those 2 black baguettes ended in the bin , the kitchen was all smoky from the burning…and he took another 2 new ones out and placed them again on the fire. That was when he realised me watching him curiously from my table across the room. With a slight embaressment, he looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and smiled, turned and started now to sing. For a second, I thought I was probably going to stay hungry this night, wondering how often he has been cooking in the kitchen and if he was just taking the place of his chef cook he left to take the day off…. nevermind, I continue copying the topos he kindly offered us before, and took another slurp of that really amazing rioja on the table.

A few minutes later, he turned up at the table, looked at me directly and asked me - do you know how we spanish people eat our breads? I shook my head, quite unsure if he was going to slice a piece of me to garnish the bread. “Then let me show you”. He took that now nicely toasted halfed baguette, took a piece of garlic and rubbed it vigourously on the bread. Then he halfed a fresh tomato and rubbed this also on the same bread. After a dash of salt he handed me the toasted bread with his charcoaled fingers and said “try it!”… I loved it … and after convincing himself that he was not such a bad cook after all, he left for the kitchen again. That evening, he served us a great 5 course meal, with soup, entrèe, grilled lamb with potatoes and we had a fantastic creme catalan freshly made (and not out of the packet!) with sugar caramalised on the fireplace. What a treat - and all this for a mere 8,- Euro per person!…and that rioja wine…boy was it good…and those routes…which line goes where?….hic..it was hard to concentrate

Ingredients:

• Baguette
• Olive oil
• Salt
• 1 fresh tomato
• garlic

Method:

It’s much easier if you are grilling out, so you could prepare it easily. But if you’re not, start up your stove, and heat your pan up. In the meantime, cut those baguettes or white bread to have an even surface, pour a little olive oil on the flat side of the bread and put this on the pan. Once the bread gets crisp and golden brown on that side, you can take them out and start rubbing first with the garlic, then the tomato. It’s great to eat them just like that, or you could make a soup or a complete meal like grilled meat to go with. Add salt to taste.