Italian Torte

This is a wonderful mix of pesto, sun-dried tomatoes and cream cheese formed into an attractive torte-like dome. You can’t go wrong with this recipe.

Original recipe makes 4 cups

3 ounces sun-dried tomatoes
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 clove garlic, minced
10 slices provolone cheese
8 ounces pesto

Bring a small saucepan of water to boil. Turn off heat. Place sun-dried tomatoes in the water and cover for 5 minutes. Drain and finely chop.
In a medium bowl, mix cream cheese and garlic.
Line a medium bowl or loaf pan with a large piece of dampened cheese cloth. Layer with 1/3 of the provolone cheese. Spread with 1/2 the pesto. Pour in 1/2 the cream cheese and garlic mixture. Layer with 1/2 the sun-dried tomatoes. Layer with 1/3 provolone, remaining pesto, remaining cream cheese and garlic mixture and remaining sun-dried tomatoes. Top with remaining provolone cheese.
Pull cheese cloth around the layered mixture and gently press into a bowl to mold and remove excess oil. Chill in the refrigerator 3 to 4 hours. Remove cheese cloth and turn upside down onto a large dish to serve.