“Do they taste like dirt?” my coworker, Jesse, asked me as I explained to him this recipe, my latest use for the beets and beet greens from my farm share. He and I are in the same farm share and report out each week on what we used and how we used it. (Side note: everyone in a farm share should recruit a buddy to join too. It helps to share excitement for vegetables with someone else while everyone else is looking at you like you’re crazy for jumping up and down about green chard). It’s really helpful to have another resource when we get to the point where we need to diversify our use of certain vegetables. (Anyone know what else I can do with cucumbers other than pickle them or eat them in salads? Anyone?! I’ll have pickles for the rest of my life at this rate.)

Jesse’s recently challenge is beets. He thinks they taste like dirt, no matter how he prepares them. This is what people mean when they describe them as “earthy”. Earthy means dirt. Roasting beets often brings out the “earthiness” whereas other preparations, like steaming or pickling, bring out the sweeter, fruiter flavor of the vegetable.

This beet flatbread, which utilizes the entire beet, root to stem, does not taste like dirt. The beets are technically roasted, yes, but thinly sliced and pared with cheese and bread. Even actual dirt would taste good under those conditions!

Beet Flatbread

4 servings. Per Serving: $1.48, 465 calories, 14g fat, 80g carbs, 14g protein.

Bring 1 ball of store bought pizza dough to room temperature. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Peel and thinly slice 3 beets. Chop the greens and stems and sauté in 1 tablespoon olive oil. ce beets. Using ¼ cup of flour, shape dough into flatbreads. Par cook in the oven on tin foil greased with cooking spray for 10 minutes, flipping halfway through. Top with pesto (optional – I used garlic scape pesto), ¼ cup mozzarella cheese, beet greens, and raw sliced beets. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake for 25 minutes.