Roasted Beet Salad Pizza

OK, I don't have an official recipe for this pizza, but it's basically this Roasted Beet salad turned into a pizza!  My neighbors Cory & Heather and I are in love with this salad, and we also LOVE pizza, so we compared notes and turned it into a pizza.

Here are the basic directions:

Brush pizza crush with olive oil.

Layer plenty of soft goat cheese and sliced roasted beets.

Bake

After baking, add spring greens or arugula (I prefer arugula), candied pecans or walnuts, and generously drizzle with dressing.

YUMMM!!!!

Sausage, Arugula, and Parsley Pizza

Source:  adapted from Country Living magazine

6 oz. sweet Italian sausage

1 T. plus 1 t. extra-virgin olive oil

1 recipe Peter Reinhart's All-Purpose Pizza Dough (or your own favorite pizza dough)

3 whole peeled canned tomatoes, crushed

1 T. tomato paste

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

coarse sea salt

1/4 t. red pepper flakes

4 oz. fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced

Garnish:  flat-leaf parsley leaves and arugula, tossed with 1 t. olive oil and 1/2 t. vinegar, plus Parmesan shavings

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Remove sausage from casings.  Crumble and saute over high heat until browned and cooked through.

Combine tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, 1 T. oil, 1/4 t. salt and red pepper.  Spread over dough.  Scatter mozzarella and sausage on top.

Bake as directed according to Peter Reinhart's dough recipe.

Garnish with parsley, arugula and Parmesan.

Roasted Beet Sandwich

Fabulous!!

I broke my "local/in-season" rule by buying some arugula for this recipe - a friend was coming for supper, and I didn't want to wait until spring to try this.  I knew it would be good because it's basically a variation of the Roasted Beet  Salad that I love, love, love, and it was as good as I anticipated!  I'll be sure to plant some beets and arugula and make this again!

Source:  adapted from recipe in Botanical Interests 2012 seed catalog

2-4 fresh beets, roasted, peeled and sliced

2 large handfuls of fresh arugula

4 slice (1/2" thick) good quality, multi-grain bread slices

4 T. soft goat cheese

3-4 T. Chef Tim's Sweet Balsamic Vinaigrette

sea salt, to taste

Remove stems and greens from beets, wash and pat dry.  Place in glass baking dish.  Toss with small amount of olive oil; sprinkle with sea salt.  Tightly cover dish with foil and bake at 400 degrees F. until soft (30-50 minutes, depending on size.  A toothpick should be easily inserted all the way to the center.)  When cool enough to handle, gently rub the skins off and slice.  Toast the bread.  Spread a thick layer of goat cheese on one slice of toasted bread.  Layer sliced beets on top of goat cheese.  Pile arugula on top of beets.  Drizzle with vinaigrette and sprinkle with sea salt.  Top with other slice of toasted bread.