Hey friends, how are your summer gardens doing? With the every other day watering the husband has been doing ours is performing well despite all this dry weather we are having lately. I have been overrun with the amount of basil I planted this year, who am I kidding, I always over plant basil. I do it in order to be able to make this delicious pesto torte. The great thing about this recipe is that you make it once and you have 8 wedges of appetizer spread stored in the freezer for later use. Just pull a wedge from the freezer a couple of hours before company comes, throw some crackers on the plate and you’re done. That’s a win in my book.
Pesto Torte
In the bowl of a food processor combine the following:
1 Stick butter, softened
2 Cups Ricotta cheese
16 ounces cream cheese softened
Spread 1/3 of this mixture onto the bottom of a greased 9” spring form pan. Cover pan in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile in the bowl of the food processor, don’t worry about washing it first, combine:
¾ Cup Almonds, in any form. I use whole raw almonds
3 Cloves Garlic
3 Packed cups fresh basil
¾ Cup olive oil
¾ Cup shredded Parmesan cheese
4 tsp. Salt
Reserve 1 cup of this mixture. Spread remaining mixture over the first layer of ricotta mixture already in the spring form pan. Cover again with plastic wrap and return to freezer for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile in the same food processor bowl combine:
1 cup of reserved pesto from above
½ Cup almonds in any form
2 cloves garlic
2 cups roasted red peppers, drained
½ Cups olive oil
¾ Cup Shredded Parmesan
½ tsp Salt
Remove pan from freezer and spread another 1/3 of ricotta mixture over top of pesto layer. Cover again with plastic and return to the freezer for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes remove from freezer and spread roasted red pepper pesto over ricotta layer. Freeze again for 30 minutes.
Remove from freezer and spread final remaining ricotta mixture over red pepper layer. Cover and return to freezer for 4 hours this time.
After 4 hours remove from freezer, remove ring from spring form pan and slice pesto torte into 8 wedges. Wrap each wedge well in plastic wrap and return to freezer.
Remove each wedge from freezer about 2 hours before you wish to serve and let thaw on counter. Serve with crackers or celery and carrot sticks.
