Beet-green Pizza

Last year our garden produced a bumper crop of beets, although they were stunted specimens, hardly worth peeling. Maybe they underperformed because I kept picking the greens for salads. In any event, neither roots nor tops looked anything like the beets for sale at local farmstands and stores. So when I saw some Texas-sized beets on special this week--and yes, they were from Texas, an inconvenient truth--I bought two bunches.

Beets are the most reviled vegetable in this house. No one eats them willingly except for one older child, recently converted, and me. No matter. I roasted the beets and then set my son to work chopping the greens for a stuffed pizza. He was bored out of his skull, so give him a knife, right? Plus, I secretly hoped that preparing the food might lead him to eating it. So far, no.     

Perhaps not many people know about beet-green pizza. My great-grandmother Elizabeth Possemato often made this dish, and several Possemato relatives continue the tradition. While not a childhood favourite of mine--beet-green pizza is an acquired taste, like olives and coffee--at some point I decided to try making it myself.

She wrote out the recipe for me when I was a teenager. What is the Internet for if not to share a treasured artifact? I can't get a clear enough photograph to render the recipe legible (no worries, it's typed in below) but I love her wobbly script and syntax. Reading her handwriting makes me feel like I'm back in her kitchen, watching the goings on from my perch on a tall chrome stool topped with a slippery red vinyl seat. 

Elizabeth Possemato, a strong, devout and hardworking woman, supported her large family after being widowed young. She lived long and well, an inspiration to many. Compared to the rest of the family, I spent very little time with her; this post in no way does justice to her memory, but certain details stick in my mind. In her late eighties she attended my wedding, traveling with family members. At the reception, she told people that the trip marked the first time she had ever stayed in a hotel room, and also the first time she had eaten potato chips. Which shows her openness to life, I think.

Beet Greens and Dressing
Mix together :
2 qts beet leaves, chopped (drain in a colander first)
1 tsp salt
1/4 c. "salad oil" (I use olive)
2 tsp paprika
1 tbsp dried mint (optional--I omit this)
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 cloves garlic chopped fine
1/2 c. seedless raisins (optional--I omit this as well, preferring to keep the greens savoury)

Roll out pizza dough (use any homemade or other version you like), cover one side with beet-green filling, fold dough in half and seal around the edges. Cut slits in the top. Bake about 1 hour at 350 degrees, or until crust is done. The result is complex--slightly bitter and satisfying.

My great-grandmother's recipe is a time capsule in more ways than one. See where she wrote "over" at the bottom of the page? This message appears on the flip side: "We don't get beet leaves here until May and June." Now, of course, we do.