Beet Pizza

[dippy-do-da egg]

Beet Pizza

Serves 4 as Appetizeror 2 as Main Dish.

Today I decided I was going to try something new. Roasted beets had become such a staple to my diet that they were just barely starting to (and I mean this in the smallest amount possible) loose their excitement. Of course, the instant I sit on the toilet and watch my magenta urine any escaped excitement floods back into me.

Anyways, since I was making pizza, and I had beets, I thought, “why not try a beet pizza?” I like pizzas that are topped with crisp, fresh greens, such as arugula. Since I would be using the red beets in the pizza, I figured I might as well use the flavorful, nutritious beet leaves as well so as to leave nothing wasted. I love goat cheese and figured the tangy, slightly bitter goat cheese would compliment the sweetness of the beets, not to mention that I happened to have some local, artisinial goat cheese I’d picked up at the farmer’s market a few days back. Having cippolini onions on hand I figured they would add a nice sweet crunch to the mix (boiling onions would also work here). In the end, I had one flavorful, colorful pizza that can be prepared nearly any time of the year.

So far I have made this four times for various groups and gotten much praise. A friend of mine who is currently living in Tuscany for a few months apparently just made it there and also got a lot of praise!

Here’s exactly how I did it:

• Goat cheese (feta could be substituted, enough to sprinkle generously over pizza)
  
• 4 fresh beets (buy with stems, cut into small cubes)
  
• 4 cipollini or boiling onions
  
• 4 T extra virgin olive oil
  
• 1 tsp rosemary
  
• sea salt
  
• 1/2 T aged balsamic vinegar
  
• 1 Pizza dough (can be purchased or made)
  

Serving: 1 ten inch pizza

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Or if you happen to have more than one oven like I do, heat one to 350 (for roasting the beets) and the other to as hot as your oven can stand (preferably convection). The hotter the better for pizzas. Add a pizza stone (if available to the hotter oven).

Roll out some pizza dough (well floured so as to avoid sticking) into a nice ten inch, flat surface.

Cut and peel three or four cippolini or boiling onions. Chop.

Rinse the beets and greens.

Remove the beet greens by cutting the stalks, and hard stalk-surrounding from the top of the beet. Discard for later use.

Using a peeler or paring knife, remove the skin from the beets.

Chop the beet into 1/8th of an inch thin, flat circles.

Put the beets and the onions on a roasting pan. Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Roast at 350 degrees for twenty minutes. If only using one oven, remove the beets after 20 minutes and increase the temperature to as high as your oven goes. The beets should be softer at this point and preferably crisp on the edges.

In the meantime: add the beat greens (removing most of the hard, red stalk) into a skillet or pan on medium-low heat. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and allow the greens to soak up the oil. Add a pinch of salt and a table spoon of balsamic. Stir. About 8 minutes.

Drizzle the flat, ready pizza dough with olive oil. Add the roasted beets and onions. Add Rosemary. Sprinkle cheese over (to your desiring… I don’t like to go too overboard, as it will overwhelm the flavors).

Put the pizza in the oven preferably on a pizza stone, or on a large baking pan. My oven reaches about 550 degrees, which requires about ten minutes of cooking time. Keep an eye on the pizza depending on the strength of your oven. For pizza, the hotter the oven gets the better.

When the crust looks golden, the cheese has melted and the juices are bouncing, remove the pan with the pizza and add the sautéed beet greens evenly on top.

Allow the pizza to cool, slice and enjoy!

Keywords: Appetizer, Intermediate, Main Dish, Cheese, Side, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Dinner

( RG2041 )