I originally made a version of this recipe from my beloved Beat This cookbook, and while I really liked it there were some issues. For one thing, dear Ann Hodgman, the author, has you make your own pesto and then drain it in a sieve to get as much of the oil out as you can–so you put the oil in, and then you take the oil out. You can certainly buy pre-made pesto, as I do, but be sure you buy it from Costco or some such. Regular grocery stores sell it, but it comes in small jars with big prices. She called for sun-dried tomatoes for the tomato layer, but she specified that they be dry-packed, not oil-packed, which are hard to find. The tomatoes were to be diced and scattered across the cream-cheese layer, which meant that you wouldn’t necessarily get any tomato in a small dab on a cracker. It never occurred to me that I could make it any differently, so I made it Ann’s way and people really liked it. Later on I ran into the version I’m posting here. and because the layers all have some cream cheese in them and are mixed in a food processor they’re pretty smooth. Then, I realized that the sun-dried tomatoes aren’t really necessary because they’re going to get pureed anyway; you can just use tomato paste. What you really want is the color and the taste.
Well, maybe that’s a bit too much background, but this recipe does seem to raise emotions. In a former church of ours there was a woman who considered this one of her signature items, so I made a point of telling her that I’d been making it before I came to the church. (She wasn’t being possessive about it, but I thought I’d better clarify.) And Ann tells a very funny story about her feelings:
Up until now, I’ve been very babyish whenever people have asked for the recipe–which happened every time I served it. I reluctantly gave out the recipe a few times, then suddenly stopped. And I actually had a screaming argument (I was the one screaming) with my friend Martha about whether she had the right to make this torta for people I knew. I wanted to be the only person associated with the recipe. The worst thing is that even though I know I was wrong, I feel so proprietary about the recipe that I still secretly think I was right.
Okay. Now here’s the recipe:
DEBI'S LAYERED SUN-DRIED-TOMATO AND PESTO SPREAD
I've done my usual tweaking, tinkering and commenting. If you don't particularly like sun-dried tomatoes or want to make something simpler, you can just make the plain and the pesto layers. I don't have my own picture of this as yet, and any pictures online aren't showing the correct layering.
Ingredients
- 3 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened, 1 package divided half
- 3/4 cup, or 1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon salt, divided
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil*
The following section of ingredients is for making your own pesto. HOWEVER, the stuff in a jar is just fine. Costco’s is relatively inexpensive. The small jars at the regular grocery store aren’t.
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped or pressed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups firmly packed fresh basil
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
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BEAT 2 packages of the cream cheese, butter, ½ teaspoon salt, and pepper at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Set aside.
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PROCESS dried tomatoes in a food processor until chopped. Add 4 oz. (1/2 package cream cheese and 1/4 teaspoon salt; process until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides. Spoon into a bowl, and set aside. Wipe container of food processor clean,
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PROCESS garlic and next 4 ingredients in food processor until chopped. Add Parmesan cheese, remaining 4 oz. cream cheese, and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt; pulse just until blended, stopping to scrape down sides. (Or, if you’re using purchased pesto, just mix the cream cheese with about a cup of pesto, more or less to taste.)
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SPRAY a 6-inch springform pan with cooking spray. If you don't have this small of a springform pan, you can just use a pretty pie plate and skip the unmolding step listed below , simply having people scoop the mixture out with a knife or crackers. You can build layers however you want. The easiest way that will keep the layers separate is to divide the plain cream cheese/butter mixture into three portions. Spread the first portion on the bottom, then the tomato, then another plain layer, then the pesto, then the third plain layer. Everything needs to be soft in order to do this. Cover with plastic wrap and chill if you’re not serving it right away. It does need to sit out for an hour or so if it’s been chilled, or it will be too hard to spread..
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RUN a knife gently around edge of pan to loosen sides. Remove sides of pan; carefully remove bottom of pan, and place layered spread on a serving tray. Garnish, if desired. with rosemary, dried tomatoes, and basil leaves. Serve with crackers or baguette slices.
Recipe Notes
*These need to be well drained if they're packed in oil. I usually put them in a strainer over a bowl and let drain for awhile, then spread them out on paper towels to get out as much oil as possible. You can save the drained oil for other uses, but you don't want your tomato/cream cheese layer to be runny. If you can find dry-packed tomatoes, so much the better, as you can skip this step. OR, if you don't care about having any kind of texture in this layer and don't want to bother with finding and paying for the dried tomatoes, you can just use tomato paste, which, if you think about it, is just pureed dried tomatoes. Use one 3-oz. can tomato paste, then taste.
