Beet It

One perk of unemployment is watching the Today show like a stay at home soccer mom. I drink my coffee, throw a toy around for my hyperactive dog, and hang out with my "friends" Al, Ann, and Matt. The other day, they had another one of my "friends", Giada, on for labor day recipes. She made Beet, Apple, and Cheese Pizzettes. I had some candy striped beets in the fridge, so I made my adaptation of the recipe with whole wheat dough, no apple, add rosemary and goat cheese.  Delish!

Rosemary, Beet, and Goat Cheese Pizzettes


Ingredients

• Pre-made wheat pizza dough, divided into eights and stretched out into 5" pizzettes (thank you trader joe's!)
• Cooking spray
• 8 oz. goat cheese, cut into 1 oz. pieces
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
• 4 beets, peeled and sliced 1/4" thick

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 F
• Placed peeled and sliced beets on cooking sheet sprayed with cooking spray
• Roast for 10 minutes, or until softened but still a bit al dente
• Spray another cookie sheet with cooking spray and place pizza dough
• Sprinkle about 1/2 tsp rosemary on each pizza
• Par cook for 4 minutes
• Remove from oven, top with 2-3 slices of beet and 1 oz of goat cheese
• Return to oven for 5 minutes
• Remove from oven, serve while piping hot!

Fresh from the garden!

like candy!

I served the pizzettes with a simple arugula, asparagus, and tomato salad with lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper for the dressing.

Lemony Asparagus, Arugula, Tomato Salad

Ingredients

• 2 bunches of asparagus
• 3/4 bag of arugula from trader joe's (precise, huh?)
• 2 tomatoes of your choice, cut into wedges (I used yellow farmers market tomatoes)
• Juice of 1 large lemon
• 1 tbsp EVOO
• Pot of boiling water with 1 tsp salt
• Ice bath
• 1 tsp. coarse salt
• fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions

• Trim woody ends off of asparagus (I leave the rubber band on and just move it to the end so I don't have to pick up all the tiny pieces of asparagus. Then put a rubber band around the good parts off the asparagus for easy handling while blanching.)
• Blanch the asparagus in salted boiling water for about 10 seconds. It will turn bright green. Immediately remove and shock in an ice bath to stop the cooking.
• Cut cooled asparagus into 2" pieces.
• In a large bowl, toss asparagus, arugula, and tomato with lemon juice, EVOO, salt, and pepper to taste

Leave the rubber band on when cutting off 

Weirdest lemon ever.

Re-rubber band for easy handling in the hot water.

Left: blanched. Right: raw. See the diff?

I squeeze over a fine strainer to avoid seeds.

Fresh and flavorful!

This salad is a great compliment to the sweet and creamy pizzettes. Arugula is spicy and bitter and the lemon juice was perfect with the asparagus. I suggest this meal with a large glass of wine :)

Clearly we hated the entire meal:

To the dog park I go! Happy Friday!