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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.
Author Debi Simons

Ingredients

  • 3 8- oz. pkg. cream cheese softened, 1 package divided in half
  • 3/4 cup butter, or 1 1/2 sticks, softened
  • 1 teaspoon salt divided
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, well drained,* or 1 3-oz. can tomato paste, or to taste

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

  1. BEAT 2 packages of the cream cheese, butter, ½ teaspoon salt, and pepper at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Set aside.

  2. 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, or, if using tomato paste, just process until combined. Spoon into a bowl, and set aside. Wipe container of food processor clean,

  3. 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.)
  4. 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..
  5. 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

*I usually put the tomatoes 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, as indicated, you can just use tomato paste.