Cuban Black Bean Pizza

This delicious pizza is a veganized throwback to my college days. Avers's Pizza in Bloomington serves up an array of gourmet pizzas, and Cuban Black Bean happens to be one of those. This pizza uses cilantro pesto to replace the tomato sauce, then black beans spiced with cumin are layered on the pesto. From here the topping choices are endless, but we pretty consistently use, sliced roma tomatoes, sliced red onion, pepperoncini, and Follow Your Heart Mozzarella.

For this pizza you'll need one pizza shell. Store bought is fine, but I prefer to make my own, and make it whole wheat. I use my bread machine and it makes it very quick and easy. You'll also need one can or 2 cups of cooked black beans, seasoned with about 1/2 Tbs. ground cumin.

Cilantro Pesto

1 bunch organic cilantro, washed and well dried
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
olive oil

In a food processor combine first 3 ingredients, pulsing to chop and combine well. Then, with machine running drizzle in olive oil until pesto is at your desired consistency. I probably use about 1/8 cup.

Assembling Pizza:

Preheat oven and pizza stone to 450 degrees. If using home made crust, roll or toss into a circle measuring about 12 inches. Poke with a fork, and place on heated pizza stone. Bake for about 3-4 minutes. Remove crust from oven (or if using store bought crust begin here). Spread pesto to within 1-2 inches of edge of crust. Spread beans on top of pest. Layer on chosen ingredients and sprinkle with FYH. Bake in preheated oven on pizza stone for 7-10 minutes, or until edges of crust are golden brown and FYH is beginning to melt.