Pickled or canned, boiled or roasted, beets are a vegetable with a split personality.

On one hand, they're dirty and rugged creatures, with fine hair-like roots, a wicked beard, and a tuft of spiny green tops. These suckers clearly come from the ground and have a rugged back bite of earth that lingers in the mouth. On the other hand, beets can be hauntingly beautiful when thinly sliced or grated, leaving a golden or fuchsia stain across hands and mouths with an ever-present saccharine punch.

Take them as you will--be it rugged or faintly feminine, beets are a great addition to salads, pastas, pizzas or a simple side dish this season.

Beet and Goat Cheese Pizza 

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 3/4 tbs. kosher salt
• 3/4 tbs. granulated yeast
• 3 1/4 cups all purpose white flour

Note: The dough is adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. This recipe makes enough for two large pizzas, so save the extra for another night--it'll hold up to two weeks in the fridge.

For the pizza:

• Olive oil drizzle 
• 4 oz. goat cheese
• 2 medium beets, thinly sliced
• 4 leaves sage, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary 
• 10 salt-cured black olives
• Zest of one lemon
• 1/4 cup shaved Pecorino cheese 

Instructions

For the dough:
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Cover bowl with a towel and let proof for at least 2 hours. Once proofed, dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. 

For the pizza:
Preheat oven and pizza stone or cookie sheet to 500 degrees for at least 1/2 hour.

Using a little flour, roll out half of the dough to 1/4 inch thick. Spread onto the hot pizza stone or cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Top with crumbled goat cheese, beets, herbs, olives, lemon zest, and pecorino. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and dough is just brown.