“I’M A GLUTTON,” said Matt Kelly, the chef and owner of four restaurants in Durham, N.C. “I just love delicious food.” Call it what you will, Mr. Kelly’s passion for an honest-to-goodness feast has shaped Durham’s culinary scene since he started cooking in the city almost 20 years ago. Certain cuisines have captured his heart, and he pays them homage by studying the fundamentals.
The first restaurant Mr. Kelly opened, Mateo Tapas, celebrates regional-Spanish cooking and North Carolinian appetites too. “It has a Spanish heart with a Southern soul,” he said. His first Slow Food Fast recipe, essentially a combo of two classic tapas—gambas al ajillo (garlic shrimp) and pan con tomate (tomato toast)—is classically prepared, to a point.
The shrimp, sweet and fresh, cook in mere minutes in olive oil perfumed with garlic and chile flakes. For the pan con tomate, Mr. Kelly brushes toasted bread with more olive oil and rubs it with a split garlic clove and the cut side of a juicy tomato. But then he breaks with Spanish tradition by slathering on a layer of mayonnaise (preferably Duke’s). “In the South, everyone loves a tomato, mayo and white bread sandwich,” he said. “I can’t believe we didn’t think of combining these two ideas sooner.”
It all makes for a fast dinner more than sumptuous enough to satisfy. But you can also use this as a building block for a more extravagant spread, filled out with cured ham, olives and a Spanish-style tortilla. Feel free to make it a feast.
