Don’t judge a beet by its cover. The dull, hard, whiskery appearance of this stout root vegetable belies a gorgeous gem-like flesh, concentrated with color and flavor. When raw, beets are crisp and sweet, adding rich hues and a crunchy texture to slaws and green salads. Cooked, their flavor is mellow and earthy, their color darkly rosy as cabernet. Roasting is the perfect hands-off way to prepare beets to bring out their natural sweetness and highlight their bold flavor. The classic combo of fresh chèvre with beets is one example of how well dairy takes to this rotund root.

Heat oven to 375ºF.

Colorado’s East Cañon City Correctional Complex, two hours southeast of Denver, encompasses seven different prisons, from maximum-security lock-down to a minimum women’s facility. Located in the high desert shadow of the Southern Front Range, near the Arkansas River, it could easily be a desolate place, but behind the fencing, there’s plenty of company, of the four-footed kind. The Complex is home to the landmark Colorado Correctional Industries (CCI) goat dairy, where qualified, trained inmates from the minimum-security Skyline Correctional Center involve themselves in every aspect of the animals’ care, from birthing to milking parlor.

Lightened with yogurt, mascarpone becomes the filling joining a cookie-like crust and spiced winter fruit topping. Make the fruit mixture several hours or a day ahead to allow its flavor to develop.

For the Pastry:

There's a movable feast happening in Vermont, and it is thanks to portable pizza grills. Enterprising pizza makers in the Green Mountain State are setting up outdoor pizzerias with the mobile grills and creating tantalizing pies with ultra local ingredients.

More elusive are the pizzas of summer — the ones that emerge from mobile ovens at fairs and farmers markets all over the state.

In recent years, Vermont has seen more and more of these mobile ovens dotting its highways and byways.

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Photo by Matthew Thorsen