Caramelized Beet & Onion Pizza

When my husband goes to the grocery store for me I never really know what he’s going to come home with. Even if I send a specific list, there is at least one item that I hadn’t asked for.  Many times it’s a great treat, like the other night when he came home with some Lorna Doone cookies because he remembered that I said  I wanted a shortbread cookie.  One time he bought xanthum gum.  Does anyone even know what xanthum gum is?  I don’t.

Last week he went to pick up some ingredients for strawberry ice cream {I would have posted about that but there isn’t enough left to take a picture.  We’ll have to make it again, I suppose}, and lo and behold he came back with a bunch of beets.  Beets?  I haven’t eaten a beet since I was a little girl and my mom forced me to try one that my grandfather had grown in his garden.  I hated it and have avoided them ever since.  My face must have shown my disgust at this purchase, especially when he told me that I was to make a beet pizza out of them.

Who eats beets on pizza? 

Apparently people in Jackson Hole, Wyoming do, because that’s where my husband tasted this creation while on a skiing trip in 2012, and he clearly never forgot about it.

I apologized for my irritated response, he apologized for assuming I would make a beet pizza, and then I researched how to go about cooking beets.  Most recipes I read said to roast them, but I didn’t want to take the time to do that.  Caramelizing sounded like a good plan.  I don’t even know if this is allowed in the culinary realm, but I did it.  And they turned out.  And I liked them.

Caramelized Beet & Onion Pizza

2 beets, peeled and thinly sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
5 tablespoons butter

Garlic Butter:
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 uncooked pizza crust {one of my favorite recipes is here}
1 cup mozzarella cheese
grated Parmesan cheese
fresh parsley, chopped

In a large skillet, melt 2 1/2 tablespoons butter.  Add sliced beets and cook until tender, and slightly browned.  Remove from skillet.  Melt remaining 2 1/2 tablespoons butter. Add onions and cook following this method for caramelizing onions. 

Make garlic butter by melting the 2 tablespoons butter with minced garlic.

Spread garlic butter on uncooked pizza crust.  Top with caramelized onions.  Sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan cheese on top.  Place beets on top of cheese and sprinkle with fresh parsley.  Bake for 15-18 minutes, until crust is browned and cheese is bubbly.