You know how Proust ate a madeleine and was transported back to his childhood in Combray? I'm from the Midwest and was born in 1992. This layered 'torta' (what is a torta?!) made of pesto, sun-dried tomato, cream cheese, and butter is my madeleine.
I recently made it for a group of semi-willing participants. Why would one choose to make this recipe that's essentially a Mad Lib of 90s food words? For fun. And to exploit the internet's tendency toward nostalgia. But really because—if I can just brag about the website where I work for a sec—at Epicurious we have a complete treasure trove of recipes dating back to the dawn of time (or at least 1955.) My colleague Joe, who essentially has a photographic memory of the site, will sometimes post weird/intriguing/gross-but-also-maybe-delicious recipes from these ancient archives in our Slack. We all have a laugh about the good ol' days. But what if, I thought recently, we tried some of these old weirdos to see how they hold up! Which brings me to the Super Bowl party I recently attended, cake pan filled with cream cheese in hand.
The recipe for Sun-Dried Tomato and Pesto Torta is from Bon Appetit's December 1999 issue. It has a pretty stellar standing: a whopping 222 people have reviewed it. It has 4/4 forks. 96 percent of these people would make it again. One reviewer calls it the "Gold standard of party appetizers." The words 'fabulous' and 'exceptional' and 'amazing' get thrown around a lot. An anonymous cook from Kalamazoo, calls it "Yummers." Someone from Ottawa, Ontario says: "The first time I made this my fiancé took it to an office party. A co-worker, inquired about who had made the torta and told my now husband to marry me!!!" Watch out engagement chicken!
The 200+ comments are full of helpful tips, like this encouraging note that "Keeping cling wrap wrinkle free is a challenge. However do not despair. Run a knife under hot water and once you've turned the torta out, you can gently smooth out any wrinkles." And the tip to freeze each layer of the dip for a bit before topping it. People also added crazy stuff to this recipe. Someone recommends adding ham! Someone stirred it into pasta. A lot of reviewers recommend swapping some of the cream cheese for goat cheese. I'd recommend reading every last review, as I did, for a truly scintillating journey and, quite frankly, an epic tale of cooks who are connected through time and space via a cream cheese torta.
When I made the torta, I followed the recipe as written. The process, as many of the comments will tell you, is a bit labored, involving the making of three separate mixtures in the food processor. But once you get in the swing of things, it's not at all difficult. The result is an actually-quite-beautiful mound of multi-colored cream cheese. Have you ever wondered: What would it look like to make the Italian flag out of cream cheese? Then this is your app. It manages to be—in my opinion—simultaneously kitschy and also genuinely, shockingly beautiful.
It's also massive. If you gauge the impressiveness of an appetizer on sheer size or density of butter and cheese, this truly is the gold standard of party appetizers. I served it with the recommended toasted baguette slices—and some assorted crackers that had been hanging out in my cabinet.
As to how the flavor profile stood the test of time, I won't lie: reviews from my friends were mixed. Pretty much everyone agreed that it tasted like something their parents would have served at a fancy cocktail party when they were a kid. Some people liked this about it. Some did not. My notoriously critical friend Crosby said it was "A no." When pressed for details, he said he the "cream cheese" was "overpowering."
I'd like to update this recipe sometime. Add a sharper cheese, or tons of black pepper. Mix in some harissa in with the tomato mixture, use different herbs in the pesto. But until I do that, I'm going to follow the recipe precisely. There's something to be said for a recipe that tastes exactly like a certain time. And I think there's a case for reliving those food times—even if its just in the form of novelty appetizers to bring to a party. In 30 years, our children will be making mid-aughts tahini sauces semi-ironically and laughing at all of us. It's the circle of life. We can't stop time. But we can travel back—if only for a moment—with a little bite of Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Torta.
