Mexican-Style Pizza with Cilantro

From Rosalind Creasy's Recipes From the Garden

Paste tomatoes are best for this recipe as their meaty fruits won't make your pizza soggy. If you want you can substitute Pepper Jack cheese that is pre-seasoned with jalapenos and leave out the minced jalapenos. This unusual pizza marries the best Southwestern seasonings with Italian basics. It's dynamite!

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
3 large cloves garlic, pressed, divided
1 uncooked 10" pizza shell, your own or a commercial one
1/3 pound (1 1/4 cups grated) Monterey Jack cheese
1 to 6 teaspoons minced jalapeno peppers, to taste
2 medium paste tomatoes, sliced
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 to 4 finely chopped tablespoons of fresh cilantro
1/3 teaspoon cumin seeds

Preheat the oven to 400°. Heat a medium skillet, add olive oil. Add the onions and two cloves of pressed garlic and sauté them over medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent, about ten minutes.

Place the pizza shell on a baking sheet. Grate the cheese and distribute it evenly over the pizza shell, reserving about 1/2 cup of cheese for the top. Spread the onions and jalapeno peppers over the cheese. Slice the tomatoes and place on top of cheese and onions. Grind black pepper over the tomatoes. Mix the chopped cilantro with remaining clove of pressed garlic and distribute mixture over the pizza. Sprinkle cumin seeds and reserved 1/2 cup of cheese over the pizza.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling and the crust is light brown. Cut pizza into 8 slices and serve immediately.

Serves 4.