Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Using Mills Family Farms Wholeaves® Red Leaf
by Chef Cal Stamenov
Serves 4
Ingredients:
San Remo Paste
2 lbs. San Remo tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
.5 oz piment d’espelette
1 oz extra virgin olive oil
5 sprigs of thyme
San Remo Tomato-Piment d’Espelette Bread (makes 3 loaves)
1 oz cake yeast
2.5 oz warm water
1.2 lb flour bread flour
2.5 oz water
.5 oz salt
2.5 oz butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2.5 oz San Remo tomato paste
Sandwich Components
2 oz butter
3 ounces Ossau Iraty, sliced
12 ounces smoked chorizo, sliced
Red leaf lettuce crowns
Long rosemary branches
Method:
San Remo Tomato Paste
Peel, seed, and chop all San Remo tomatoes. In medium sauté pan, over medium heat, sweat garlic and piment d’espelette in extra virgin olive oil. Add chopped tomatoes and thyme. Let cook until mixture becomes a paste, about 15-20 minutes
San Remo Tomato-Piment d’Espelette Bread
Combine the water and yeast in a small bowl and let sit for approximately ten minutes. In a large electric mixer bowl fitted with a dough hook, add the flour, eggs, salt and yeast mixture. Mix for one minute at low speed. Add the San Remo tomato paste. Mix for another minute, scrapping down the sides with a rubber spatula. Then mix for another 8 minutes mix at low speed. Add soft butter a quarter at a time, then add olive oil and mix for an additional eight minutes. The dough should be pulling from the sides. If not, add a handful of flour and mix for a few more minutes. Dough should be elastic and smooth.
Lightly rub dough ball with olive oil and place into buttered and in a floured standard bread mold. Place in a warm spot in the kitchen. Let rise to four times the original size. Bake in a 400-degree oven for thirty minutes. Remove from bread mold and place on cooling rack. Once cooled, slice bread into (16) - ½ inch thick slices and remove crusts, leaving a 3 inch square of bread.
Sandwich Assembly:
Lightly butter each side of bread. Lay out bread slices on sheet pan and place a slice of Ossau Iraty on each. On 8 slices, place enough chorizo to cover cheese. Combine the 2 different slices to create a sandwich.
Over medium heat, warm a Teflon pan. Cook sandwiches for 2 minutes on each side or until bread is toasted and cheese is melted. Remove and cut each into 3 strips.
Remove all of the leaves of the rosemary, except for the last 2 inches. Using the rosemary as a skewer, place one section of the sandwich, then 2 red leaf lettuce leaves, then second sandwich section, then more red leaf lettuce leaves, then third section of sandwich. Trim the rosemary as needed.