san marzano red sauce used two ways

Lisa served two sandwich choices at Kaylee's grad party.  Both were small, just a few bites, so guests could have one or both of the sandwiches.  One of the sandwiches was a panini grilled cheese and the other was a slider type hamburger.  She had a terrific red sauce that she used as a dipping sauce for the panini sandwiches. Guests could ladle some into a small disposable cup to dip their panini.  For the sliders, the burgers were in a crock pot in the same red sauce and guests were able to build their own sandwich as they went through the line, ensuring that everyone got a freshly made sandwich. The sauce was really good.  Similar to a spaghetti sauce but without the Italian herbs.  This one included only fresh basil.  San Marzano tomatoes are a plum style tomato from Italy.  Some interesting reading about the San Marzano tomato can be found here.

San Marzano Red Sauce

3- 28 oz cans of San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes
4-6 T garlic olive oil
1 red onion cut into small dice
Pinch of red pepper flakes 
Kosher salt and pepper  
4-6 T torn fresh basil
 
Break up the tomatoes with an immersion blender.  Heat oil over medium heat in a large saucepan and add the onion when oil is hot - saute 5-6 minutes.  Add the red pepper flakes.  Add tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.  Reduce heat to med low and saute for 30 min.  Makes a slightly chunky sauce with great fresh tomato flavor

Hambies  Slider Sandwiches

3 # hamburger
1 packet of McCormick Grill Mates Montreal marinade seasoning 
1 tsp season salt
1 egg
1/3 c Panko bread crumbs 

Combine the hamburger seasonings, egg and bread crumbs and form into burgers.  Lisa's burgers were very consistent in size and shape.  They matched the diameter of her bun and were about 3/4 pf an inch thick.  I think Lisa molded hers in a cookie cutter.  She then browned them in an electric fry pan and finished the cooking in the San Marzano red sauce in the crock pot. When building the sandwich, some of the sauce clings to the burger when you put it on the bun.   Delicious.

Grilled Cheese Panini 

The paninis were made with baguettes that were purchased from the Panera restaurant.  They were thinly sliced and buttered on the outside of the sandwich.  Inside the sandwich was a leaf of spinach and a thick slice of sharp cheddar.  They were grilled on the panini press but could as easily be done in an electric skillet, flipping the sandwich to cook both sides.  Once done they were transferred to  the buffet server to keep them warm.  The red sauce was available to use to dip the sandwich in.  We used a whole spinach leaf on the sandwich and in hindsight the whole leaf prevented the second slice of bread from adhering the the melted cheese.  I think that the spinach torn into smaller pieces or placed between two thinner slices of cheese might be something to try to keep the sandwich from coming apart when serving or dipping into the red sauce.