Pesto and tomatoes are one of those time-honoured combinations that taste better every time you try it. This pesto recipe is thickened with low-fat cream cheese to make a filling that bursts with the flavour of summer.
Stuffed into cherry tomatoes, it makes an exceptionally attractive appetizer that is not at all hard to prepare. You can make the pesto cream cheese filling ahead of time (refrigerate it, covered, for up to two days), but wait until shortly before serving to stuff the tomatoes.
Preparation time 35 minutes
Cooking time 0 minutes
Serves 16
Ingredients
- 225 g (3 c) fresh basil leaves, washed and dried
- 75 ml (1/3 c) plus 30 ml (2 tbsp) pine nuts, toasted
- 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
- 2 ml (1/2 tsp) salt, or to taste
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- 15 ml (1 tbsp) extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 pkg (250 g/8 oz) reduced-fat cream cheese (Neufchâtel), cut into chunks
- 800 g (4 c) cherry tomatoes, washed and dried
- Combine the basil, 75 millilitres (1/3 cup) pine nuts, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor. Process until pine nuts are ground. With motor running, drizzle in olive oil. Add cream cheese and pulse until smooth and creamy.
- Shortly before serving, make an "X" on the rounded side (opposite stem) of each cherry tomato with a serrated or sharp paring knife. Scoop out the seeds with a grapefruit spoon or your fingertips, taking care to keep the tomatoes intact.
- Scrape the cream cheese filling into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip or small plastic food bag with a one centimetre (1/2 inch) hole snipped in one corner. Pipe a rosette of filling into each cherry tomato cavity. Garnish the cherry tomatoes with the remaining pine nuts. One serving equals three filled cherry tomatoes.
Per serving: 70 Calories, 2 g Protein, 2 g Carbohydrates, 0 g Fibre, 6 g Total Fat, 2 g Saturated Fat, 8 mg Cholesterol, 116 mg Sodium.
