Saturday, July 19, 2008

Ladenia: A Little Slice of Heaven!

Good news on the running front. Apparently I like to torture myself. This summer has been abnormally cool and I've been slogging through (and putting off) runs. Now that the Dog Days of Summer are here (100 today), I'm loving my runs and can't wait to get out there! I guess I'm more of a masochist than I thought!

Living where I live in the Midwest, you don't kind a lot of ethnic diversity when it comes to dining out. Until recently you were pretty much limited to Taco Bell and the Big China Buffet, complete with fried chicken and mashed potatoes and of course, Pizza Hut. So I'm a little behind the curve when it came to discovering Greek Cuisine. (Well, there was that one night back in college that involved a bottle of real Ouzo, smuggled into the country by a fellow student after a summer spent in Greece. But I really try not to remember that night if I can help it!) I noticed lately that a high percentage of the recipes I was saving happened to be Greek so I decided to start making a few. All have been great so far and I can't seem to get enough of some great Greek food blogs. Love, love love Peter's blog Kalofagas - Greek Food and Beyond. My family knows that if they can't find me, I'm probably online pouring through Peter's recipes. I can't count how many hours I've spent drooling over the recipes and pictures over at Kopiaste - to Greek Hospitality. And Lulu over at Mama's Taverna ... who knew you could grate tomatoes to make a tomato sauce? Loved it!
Peter's recipe for Ladenia is to die for! A Greek specialty that looks like pizza and tastes like heaven, ladenia is like a deep dish pizza crust, topped with onions and tomato and liberally seasoned with olive oil and oregano. A simple recipe that defies logic. How can something so simple taste so good? Even my tomato-phobic dh enjoyed it. This is one recipe I won't be waiting too long before I make it again!

Ladenia
Inspired by Peter M. from Kalofagas

1 ball of frozen pizza dough, thawed
olive oil
1 large yellow onion, sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
salt
freshly ground pepper
Oregano

Spread dough into an oiled round baking pan. Keep dough thick. Allow dough to rise for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pour olive oil over dough and cover dough with onions and tomatoes. Sprinkle liberally with salt, pepper and oregano. Bake for 45 minutes until crust is golden brown. Drizzle with good extra-virgin olive oil and serve hot or cold.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I haven't prepared or researched very much Mediterranean food, but from what I've learned so far it seems to be relatively simple, clean and easy to prepare, like this delicious-looking dish.

As for running in the heat, all I can say is, "You go, girl." I prefer and actually perform much better in cooler temperatures.

Peter M said...

Theresa, thanks for mentioning my blog plus some other fine Greek food blogs...it's wonderful that we inspire you to want more Greek food.

I love the Ladenia but I feel credit must also be passed onto Laurie of Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska, to which I received my inspiration to make Ladenia.

Anonymous said...

Peter features great food at Kalofagas, and his Ladenia is to die for, as well as many others of his recipes.

As Peter mentioned, Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska is a great resource. Some other really good Greek recipe sources other than the ones Theresa listed are (and thanks for the mention of Mama's Taverna, Theresa!):

About Greek Food

Food Junkie Not Junk Food

Greek Gourmand

Organically Cooked

Teresa said...

Thanks for the links! I can see I won't be getting much esle done for the rest of the day! LOL!