Get the Pork Belly Pizza with Roasted Leeks, Pickled Lemon and Hazelnut recipe
This pizza is amazing because of the wonderful pairing of leeks and pork which transforms like a mushroom cloud of flavor. The Gruyere adds a sour note to the melting mozzarella and the sweet lemon hit is followed by the textural crunch of the hazelnuts.
Pork Belly Pizza with Roasted Leeks, Pickled Lemon and Hazelnut
Author: Pizza Today
Recipe type: pizzas
Ingredients
- 1 19-ounce proprietary dough ball (large)
- 1 12-ounce fresh side of pork belly (whole)
- 1 leek
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 tablespoons whole milk ricotta
- 3 tablespoons Mascarpone cheese
- 2 tablespoon heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons grated Parmigiano
- 2 lemons, peeled, with skin reserved
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 6 ounces aged mozzarella
- 2 ounces Gruyere cheese
- 4 tablespoons chopped, roasted hazelnuts
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Instructions
- For the Lemon: In a small pan, add 2 cups of water, the lemon zest, 3 tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of salt and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, turn off the heat and cover for 10 minutes until cool.
- When cool, cut the lemon zest into small thin slivers.
- For the Pork Belly: Preheat the oven to 290 F.
- Pull out a foot of foil and place the pork belly in middle of the foil after dusting with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until the internal temperature reaches 190 F. (approximately 30 minutes to 45 minutes.
- Pull from the oven and let rest.
- For the Leek Cream Sauce: Cut the bottom off the leek and one inch off the top green end and slit down the stalk.
- Open the stalk and clean under fresh running water to get the dirt out.
- Continue to slice the leek down the stalk to create thin strips.
- Turn and slice crossways creating small dice.
- Place the olive oil in a sauté pan and heat on medium high.
- When heated place the leek into the pan and sauté until translucent and cooked, (3-5 minutes.) Place aside in a bowl.
- Once the leek has cooled add half of the leek to the ricotta, Mascarpone, heavy cream, and Parmigiano and whisk with a spoon until incorporated.
- Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Set it aside.
- Add more sauteed leek as needed to create a leek-forward cream sauce. (You may not need the whole leek depending upon the size you are using.)
- For the Pizza: Preheat an oven to 550 F.
- Form a round disc with your proprietary dough.
- Spread the leek cream sauce on the dough.
- Add the mozzarella and Gruyere cheese across the dough and place the pizza in the oven for the first phase of baking.
- Bake for 5-8 minutes to melt the cheese and until the crust starts browning.
- Slice the now cooled pork belly into thin slices.
- Pull the pizza from the oven and place the pork belly slices atop the melting cheese.
- Put the pizza back into the oven for another 3 to 8 minutes until all toppings become cooked and the pork belly heats up and amalgamates with the cheeses. The crust should be deep golden brown.
- Remove the pizza from the oven and garnish with the pickled lemon skin slivers, the chopped hazelnuts and chopped parsley.
