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• Recipe Overview
• Ingredients
• Processes - Utensils
• Instructions

• Cuisine

  European >> Italian >> Italian

• Dietary Style

• Source

  Genius Kitchen(food.com)

| 1. With electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth, scraping sides of bowl as needed. | 2. Set aside. | 3. Prepare Pesto: In a blender or food processor, whirl to a paste the basil, parmesan or romano cheese, and olive oil. | 4. Stir in pine nuts. | 5. Set aside. | 6. Cut cheesecloth squares about 10-12" square to line custard cups (It needs to be able to cover the bottom, go up the sides and still have some to fold over the top of the torta). | 7. If you use the really loose weave stuff (standard grocery store cheesecloth), you'll need two pieces per custard cup. | 8. Moisten the cheesecloth with water, wring dry and lay two sheets out flat on top of each other. | 9. Smoothly line your custard cups with the cheesecloth (this can be a bit tricky, but it doesn't have to be perfectly smooth). | 10. With your fingers or a flexible rubber spatula, spread a thin layer (about 1/2 inch) of the cheese mixture in a lined custard cup. | 11. Cover with 1/4-/12 inch pesto. | 12. Put another layer of cheese. | 13. If you can, do another layer of pesto and cheese, so you end up with 3 cheese layers and 2 pesto layers. | 14. Two layers of cheese and one of pesto works if that's the way it comes out. | 15. Fold the ends of the cheesecloth neatly over the top of the torta and press down lightly with fingers. | 16. Repeat with remaining cheese and pesto. | 17. I get 5 large custard cups or 6 small cups plus one large cup from this quantity of ingredients. | 18. Chill until tortas are firm when pressed (at least 2 hrs, I usually just let them go overnight). | 19. Remove from custard cups by gently pulling on the cheesecloth around the edges. | 20. Remove the cheesecloth and wrap the torta tightly in two layers of saran wrap. | 21. Seal in sandwich size ziplock freezer bags and place in freezer. | 22. To serve: Remove from freezer and thaw (overnight in frig works well). | 23. Bring to near room temp and srve with sliced baguettes and crisp raw vegetables. | 24. Variation: For a large party, do one massive torta in a charlotte mold, loaf pan or a clean clay flowerpot. | 25. You'll end up with 7-8 layers of each filling in this one. | 26. I wouldn't freeze this size, but it will keep in the frig for up to 5 days. | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Estimated Nutritional Profile for Ingredients

Ingredient Name	Quantity	Unit	State	Energy (kcal)	Carbohydrates	Protein (g)	Total Lipid (Fat) (g)
cream cheese	1	lb	softened	1338.1229999999998	15.876	32.2057	129.7299
butter	1	lb	unsalted softened	3252.2612	0.2722	3.8555	367.9092
basil leaf	3	cups	packed	-	-	-	-
parmesan cheese	4	ounces	grated	419.5725	45.3592	45.3592	5.6699
olive oil	1/3	cup		636.48	0.0	0.0	72.0
pine nut	2	ounces		381.591	7.4164	7.7622	38.7658
cheesecloth				-	-	-	-

- Means that suitable USDA nutrition profile could not be mapped for this ingredient-unit combination.