Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Pizza

Earlier this week I read a wonderful article in The Atlantic online by Austin’s own Carol Ann Sayle, co-owner and co-founder of Boggy Creek Farms.  In  “Eat Shoots and Leaves: A Case for the Whole Vegetable”, Sayle argues that even conscious eaters among us waste a great deal food and money by discarding the greens that are attached to our CSA produce.  (The greens attached to grocery store produce are DOA before the veggies even arrive at the store, but that’s another matter.) In her article, Sayle suggested a few recipes for salads that utilize radish greens, beet greens, and more. My imagination was piqued. Inspired by Sayle’s column, I devised this recipe for roasted beet pizza that utilizes the whole veggie.  The sweet, earthy flavor of the beets is offset by salty goat cheese, pungent onions and garlic, and slightly bitter beet greens.  A whole wealth of flavors is captured in each bite!  Many thanks to Carol Ann for the inspiration.

A few notes about the preparation: I found this recipe to be a bit involved for a weeknight.  However, by roasting the beets and making the pizza dough the night before, I was able to put dinner on the table in less than 20 minutes! Since this recipe makes enough for 2 medium pies, I was able to put dinner on my friends Nathan and Amy‘s table, too!  I owe Amy big time for taking my picture each day as I embark on the 30×30 challenge.  If you’re not in the favor-returning market, just prepare one pizza.  The dough and all the toppings will keep in the fridge for a few days until you’re ready for pizza number two.

Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Pizza (makes two medium pies, each pie serves 2-3 people)

The day before: prepare pizza dough and roast one beet.  My favorite pizza dough is NY Times writer Mark Bittman’s;  step by step instructions with photos & recipe here. To roast beet, preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Scrub beet clean and cut off the greens and root end. Save greens in the fridge for later and discard the straggly root. Drizzle the beet with olive oil and wrap the whole thing in aluminum foil.  Bake on a cookie sheet in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until beet is tender.  Place whole, roasted beet in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.

When you’re ready to make the pizza, preheat oven to 500 degrees. Remove pizza dough from fridge and allow to come to room temperature while you prepare the toppings:
1/2 yellow onion, sliced as thin as you can manage
1 beet, roasted according to instructions above and chopped into small pieces
4 oz. goat cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil for drizzling
salt and pepper
1 bunch beet greens, stalks removed, sliced into thin ribbons
balsamic vinegar for drizzling

Once toppings are ready to go, prepare two cookie sheets or pizza pans with baking parchment.  Roll out pizza crusts, one at a time, on a floured surface until they are the correct size for your pans.  Mine ended up at 14 x 10 inches, but any size and shape will work.  Transfer to the prepared pans.

Brush each crust with a tablespoon of olive oil and top pizzas with sliced onions, minced garlic, chopped beets, salt and pepper.  Use your fingers to break goat cheese up, distributing the 4 oz. of cheese evenly between the two pizzas.  Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.  At the 10 minute mark, pull the pizzas out and top with beet greens.  Bake an additional 3-4 minutes, until greens are bright green and tender.  Drizzle finished pizza with balsamic vinegar immediately before serving.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

Pizza with Rosemary, Apples and Brie

I have been wanting to make pizza from scratch for a while now, but the whole crust process was pretty intimidating and I couldn’t find a recipe online that I really wanted to use.  Lucky for me, I went to The Essential New York Times Cookbook launch event at Rain Lily Farms this weekend, where I bought a signed copy of Amanda Hesser’s so named new cookbook.

The event was fun for lots of reasons, but the biggest takeaway of the night for me was definitely the book.  It’s 970 pages of awesome recipes. No pictures. No fluff. Just lots and lots of wonderful food, plus Amanda Hesser’s autograph on the inside cover.  (FYI, Christmas shoppers, I called BookPeople this morning and they still had signed copies available.)

The first recipe I tried from the cookbook was Mark Bittman’s Pizza Dough, and boy was it a winner.  It took all of 10 minutes to put together the night before, and another 5 minutes tonight to turn into this lovely rosemary apple brie pizza.  Mark Bittman has published the full recipe, with instructions as they appear in the cookbook, on his website, so I hope you’ll try it too!

Pizza with Rosemary, Apples and Brie
1 recipe pizza dough, such as Mark Bittman’s , divided into two pieces
Toppings:
1 apple, cored and sliced very thin
1/2 medium yellow onion, sliced very thin
6 oz. brie, sliced in pieces
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons chopped rosemary
4 tablespoons olive oil
salt to taste

Prepare pizza dough according to recipe the night before and allow to rise in the refrigerator during the day. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  Remove cold dough from fridge and allow to come to room temperature while you prepare the toppings.  For toppings, remove rosemary needles from woody stem and chop.  Slice half an onion as thin as you can manage and separate the rings. Core the apple and slice very thin.  Slice the brie into pieces. (This will be easier if you put the cheese in the freezer for a few minutes first.)  Peel and chop 4 cloves of garlic.

Prepare two cookie sheets or pizza pans with baking parchment.  Roll out pizza crusts, one at a time, on a floured surface until they are the correct size for your pans.  Mine ended up at 14 x 10 inches, but any size and shape will work.  Transfer to the prepared pans.  Note: If you are using a pizza stone or nicer nonstick baking sheets than I own, feel free to omit the parchment and instead oil the pans. No way can I do that with my cheapo cookie sheets!

Brush each crust with a tablespoon of oil and sprinkle with a tablespoon each rosemary and garlic.  Arrange apple slices, onion pieces and brie on each crust and sprinkle with remaining rosemary.  Drizzle remaining oil over top, along with a few pinches of salt.  Bake in preheated over for 11 minutes.  This recipe makes two medium pizzas, enough for 3-4 adults as a main dish.  Cut into bite-sized pieces, this would be wonderful finger food at a cocktail party.

Here’s my pizza before baking:

And after:

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe.

House Pizzeria

I know I’m late to the party on this one, but if you haven’t made it out to House Pizzeria you should try it!  Tonight we had their Oktoberfest special pizza topped with beer braised sausage, caramelized onions and cheddar.  It was divine.  Truly inspiring flavors, and the best thin crust I’ve had here in Austin. They had a decent wine list plus a ton of local beer on tap, and my iced tea was fantastic. Our meal came with gratis crunchy bread sticks  and European-style bottled tap water. I knew we were in for a spectacular pie when I tasted cracked pepper, rosemary and fennel in the bread sticks.  Rami and I both split the 12-inch pizza and were comfortably full; total cost for dinner and my drink was under $15, including tip.

The flavors in the pizza inspired me to cook with beer this week.  I just added some Bratwurst from Full Quiver Farms to my Greenling order so that I can make a pasta-free version of this beer braised sausage recipe, from one of my favorite websites, SustainableTable.org.