Argentine Black Bean Pizza with Chimichurri Drizzle

Adapted from Cooking Light and myrecipes.com

1 of your favorite store-bought pizza doughs, or dough from your favorite pizza dough recipe

1 red bell pepper, or previously roasted red peppers in jar if you have

Black Bean Spread (recipe uses only a portion of this):
1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion
1 (15-ounce) can 50%-less-sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5-ounce) can organic fire-roasted diced tomatoes with green
chiles, undrained (such as Muir Glen), or whatever chunky tomato product you have on hand plus something to add heat.  During the summer, I grew a jalapeño plant next to my tomatoes, so I did once attempt to duplicate this with fresh ingredients. The depth added with the fire-roasted version is nice though.

Preheat the oven to 450°, preferably with pizza stone inside.

If you are roasting a fresh pepper, cut in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Place pepper halves, skin sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet; flatten with hand. Turn oven to broil and set timer for 10 minutes. Watch pepper closely until blackened (I say “watch closely” because in my house, broiling=smoke detecter goes off, even if I swear there’s no smoke or fire!). Place in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 10 minutes. Peel and cut into 16 strips. Set aside.

Combine ingredients for Black Bean Spread in blender or food processor and process until smooth.

Roll dough into the size and shape of your pizza stone or baking dish and to desired thinness. Place dough in 450° oven to pre-bake for approximately 7 minutes.  Remove from oven. Spread Black Bean Spread thickly over dough. Sprinkle with:

1-2 ounces finely grated fresh Parmesan cheese, enough to cover Black Bean Spread in a thin layer.

Return to oven and bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

Chimichurri:
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you could substitute lime juice!)
2 teaspoons minced garlic

Combine chimichurri ingredients in a small bowl.  When pizza is done and cooled slightly, drizzle mixture over.  Cut into pieces and garnish each slice with strips of red bell pepper.

Then, with remaining herb leftovers, I took advice I found online for freezing cubes in olive oil.  I also read some people using chicken broth or water.  The oil combination makes sense to me though, since I have already been freezing batches of fresh basil pesto for years. This was just whole leaves. What also makes this great is that olive oil and herbs are the start for another chimichurrri!

Any ideas for the leftover Black Bean Spread, besides eating it with tortilla chips?