Lemon Truffle Arugula Pizza
Just over one year ago, Connor and I were eating a version of today’s lemon truffle arugula pizza and celebrating our successful apartment search in Chicago. I thought it was only right to honor the occasion with a new pizza recipe!
It happens to be one of my favorites. I’m a self-proclaimed red sauce pizza person. This homemade margherita pizza will forever be a favorite. I love cheese (obviously), but often times white pizzas are a bit too heavy for me.
I generally need some acid, in the form of tomato sauce, to help balance everything out. But today’s pizza is different!
The base pizza is actually crazy simple. Like, ridiculously (almost embarrassingly?) simple.
You take my favorite pizza dough recipe (this one is ready in just one hour!) and top it with freshly grated fontina and mozzarella cheese. It goes into the oven until the cheese is golden, melted, and caramelized. Simple, simple, simple.
The finishing touch is what brings this entire pizza together! Fresh arugula leaves tossed with lemon truffle oil vinaigrette. The vinaigrette is a simple combination of freshly squeezed lemon juice and my favorite white truffle oil.
The arugula begins to wilt on top of the heat of the freshly baked pizza. The lemon juice cuts the richness of the cheese pizza perfectly, and the truffle oil gives the pizza that earthy, umami flavor.
All of the elements of this pizza come together and make it special.
If you don’t make this pizza, please, oh please, make the arugula salad (with the lemon truffle vinaigrette) on its own.
It would be so great paired with fresh burrata cheese (and grilled vegetables or asparagus), or served with a decked out charcuterie platter – such an easy, yet elegant summer meal!
But first…pizza.
Lemon Truffle Arugula Pizza
Ingredients:
- 1 batch of (1-hour) homemade pizza dough
- 2 tablespoons cornmeal, for dusting (divided)
Assembly
- extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- 6 ounces grated fontina cheese
- 4 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, shredded
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons white truffle oil
- kosher salt
- 3 and 1/2 packed cups (roughly 4 ounces) baby arugula
- fresh lemon zest, for garnishing
Directions:
- Place the pizza stone on the center (or bottom third) rack of your oven, and preheat the oven and pizza stone to 550 degrees Fahrenheit (for at least 30-45 minutes). If your oven does not go up to 550 degrees, heat it to the absolute maximum temperature that it can go. If it can heat to higher than 550 degrees Fahrenheit, even better!
- Separate the dough into two equal-sized portions. It will deflate slightly, but that is OK. Place the dough on a large plate or floured counter top, cover gently with plastic wrap, and allow the dough to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Assemble the Pizza: Sprinkle the pizza peel with a tablespoon of cornmeal. Gently stretch one ball of pizza dough into roughly a 11-to 12-inch circle (don’t worry if its not perfectly uniform). If the dough springs back or is too elastic, allow it to rest for an additional five minutes. The edges of the dough can be slightly thicker, but make sure the center of the dough is thin. Gently transfer the dough onto the cornmeal-dusted pizza peel.
- Drizzle or brush the dough lightly with olive oil (teaspoon or so). Sprinkle and distribute half of the fontina cheese over the pizza, leaving a 3/4-inch border on all sides. Top with half of the mozzarella cheese. Top with freshly ground black pepper. At this point, I’ll occasionally stretch the sides of the dough out a bit to make it even thinner. Gently slide the pizza from the peel onto the heated baking stone. Bake for 6 to 9 minutes, or until the cheese has caramelized and the edges of the pizza are golden brown.
- As the pizza is cooking, whisk together one tablespoon lemon juice and one tablespoon white truffle oil in a large mixing bowl. Season with salt. Just before removing the pizza from the oven, add half the arugula leaves and toss gently to coat.
- Remove the pizza from the oven with the pizza peel, transfer to a wooden cutting board or foil, and top with dressed arugula. Sprinkle the pizza with salt and garnish with freshly grated lemon zest. Serve immediately. Repeat with the remaining pizza dough and topping ingredients.
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Wow – this looks great! I’m going to have to try this…
There’s nothing I love more than white pizzas during summer. So light, so tasty… I would totally make this pizza and not go for the salad lol
I LOVE a classic pizza, but a white-based one is such a nice change every once in a while. I love how simple this is! Beautiful, as always.
OK, YES!! Pizza, should be done classic and simple I feel like. It’s just so good as is you, know? I am a HUGE fan of this combo and man, your crust looks amazing!!
Pizza = definitely the way to my hubby’s heart. I love trying different toppings and flavor combinations, and omg lemon truffle arugula pizza – i’m totally smitten and want to make this for dinner this week!!
Big time swooning over here! The truffle oil addition sounds GREAT with the lemon! Yum!
can’t wait to try this one in September!
I’ve only had pizza with arugula on it once and it was a game-changer! Absolutely LOVE the addition of white truffle oil. It truly makes everything better!
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I´ll give it a try over the weekend.
I never made a pizza with fresh greens as a topping.
Yes! So good. I put fresh arugula on a lot of pizzas, but love this way when I toss it with the truffle vinaigrette! 🙂
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Yum, this sounds ah-mazing. Looking forward to making it soon 🙂
Also trying this! Last time I tried dandelion greens they seemed bitter! Will try! Looks delicious!