Spicy Pancetta Pizza with Camembert, Arugula and Caramelized Shallots

The heat has officially hit Los Angeles and all I want to do is eat pizza outside with a glass of rosé or beer in hand. Pizza topped with fresh cold arugula is always my first pick when summer rolls around. And this pizza you see pictured has some of my favorite toppings: gooey Camembert cheese, spicy chili oil, caramelized shallots, a sprinkling of lemon zest and salty pancetta. Oh and really crisp, peppery arugula. I love the contrast between cooked and not cooked and cold and warm. This pizza has it all.

During the summer, something happens: I usually want to spend less time cooking. With that in mind, feel free to buy pizza dough. I like to go to my favorite neighborhood pizza place and kindly ask them if I can buy a few ounces of dough. They're usually more than happy to sell me some (it usually costs about $3) and they're typically much better than store-bought. But you can go that route, too. A few supermarkets in my area carry really good-quality pizza dough.

If you'd like to go the homemade route, I recommend Jim Lahey's famous No-Knead Pizza Dough. I like to swap in a good bit of whole wheat flour in place of some of the all-purpose to give it a bit of an earthier flavor. Beware that it does make quite a bit of dough but feel free to refrigerate the leftovers for future use.

Whether you choose store-bought or homemade, no one will be able to tell when you top with all this awesome stuff. People will be too happy to care.

Adrianna Adarme is a food blogger and author living in Los Angeles, California. She writes the blog A Cozy Kitchen, where she shares comforting, everyday recipes from her kitchen. She recently authored her first cookbook, PANCAKES: 72 Sweet and Savory Recipes for the Perfect Stack. She's a lover of breakfast, pie (and sometimes even pie for breakfast), corgis and cute things. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.