BBQ Pork Pizza

Oh, this is just the perfect weekend blog post! Jerry and I always treat ourselves to a meal that is, let's just say, a little bit less healthy than our usual fare. This is typically preceded by an extra long run for me and a race or extra hard workout for Jerry. Enter in Jerry's favorite food: pizza. Now there is a wonderful brewery in town that has an amazing wood-fired pizza oven, called Mountain State Brewing. They are lovely and have delicious pizza with creative toppings, yummy sandwiches, and of course, beer (my favorite is the Coalminer's Daughter Oatmeal Stout). We love it there, but in keeping a tight budget we don't tend to go there as often as we might like. One night Jerry had a foot out the door saying, "I want the Cuban pulled-pork pizza from Mountain State!" Not wanting to go out myself, and not wanting to pay $20 for a fancy pizza, I told him: "I can make that for you." Within an hour I was scouring the internet to figure out how to make pulled pork (great, it takes all day...well, I don't have all day...great, you are supposed to cook with a pork butt or shoulder cut of meat, I only have a small pork loin...A SMOKER?!?!), and trying to find a way to not completely mess up my promise of the same pizza to Jerry. Well, somehow I figured out a way to cook the meat in about 30 minutes, and make it taste just like it does at Mountain State. So, either I am a magician or perhaps they don't do all that fancy stewing, smoking, either. You decide!

Serves: 

2

Ingredients:

• whole wheat pizza dough (see here for my whole wheat dough recipe)
• 1 tsp smoky pork rub (I used Mitchell Steak Seasoning from Penzey spices)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 lb- 1 lb lean pork loin
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1 tsp ground mustard
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup barbecue sauce, divided
• 4 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced

Cooking:

1. Prepare your dough and preheat the oven to 400°.
2. Prepare the pork loin with the rub.
3. In a cast-iron bean pot with a tight-fitting lid, heat your oil over med-high heat. Once it starts to glisten, add the onions and garlic to the pot, stirring constantly for about 3-4 minutes, until the onions starts to become translucent.
4. Push the garlic and onions to the side, then using tongs, put your pork loin in, searing one side. Keep that side down for 1-2 minutes, or until it starts to brown. Continue until all sides of the pork loin have been seared.
5. Pour in the cider vinegar, brown sugar, mustard, and 1/4 cup of the barbecue sauce. Cover with the lid and place in your oven for about 30 minutes. The internal temp of the pork loin should be 145°.
6. Increase the oven temp to 415°. Stretch out your dough onto a large pizza pan or pizza stone. Then either with a fork and knife, or two forks, begin to pull apart the pork loin. It should look shredded as you go. I remove any pieces of fat that might be present.
7. When the pork is shredded, mix in the remaining barbecue sauce. If it looks dry, you can add more. Then spoon this onto the pizza as your sauce.
8. Top with the mozzarella and green peppers.
9. Pop in the oven for about 13-15 minutes, or until the crust and cheese begin to brown.
10. Slice into 8 pieces.
11. Enjoy.

Notes:

• We will still go to Mountain State and order this pizza! They have a wood-fired oven and you just can't replicate that. But this is a good, less expensive, alternative for a night in!
• The first time I made this the measurements for barbecue sauce, vinegar and brown sugar were spot on, but the second time I needed a little more of each as it was a little dry, so I added more. 
• My cast-iron bean pot is the perfect tool for this dish, as it goes from stove-top to oven without a problem. You could easily use a heavy skillet and then transfer everything to a glass covered casserole dish for baking.
• If it is St. Patrick's Day, you should definitely arrange your bell peppers to that they are in the shape of shamrocks:

Erin go bragh! (Not that this dish has ANYTHING to do with Ireland...I just made it on St. Paddy's Day.)

I was so thrilled when Jerry exclaimed: "This is perfect! It tastes just like it!" Yes! I did it, and I did it without "traditional" (read: time-consuming) means. I hope you will like this too!

-Carly