Some of the popular local recipes include tirenia, open-faced cheese pies made with the local fresh cheese; avga me kapari, a kind of scrambled eggs made with onions and capers; and kolokithokapari, a variation on the prior recipe made with zucchini. But the most famous recipe of all from Kimolos is ladenia, a type of pie that resembles a thick-crust vegan pizza, made with olive oil (ladi means “oil”) and topped with sliced tomatoes and onions.

Not only is ladenia simple to make but it also tastes and smells like those dry, salty islands – one bite immediately transports me to Kimolos. Moreover, the traditionally vegan recipe (it’s often topped with only tomatoes, onions and sometimes capers or olives) is healthy and a perfect end-of-summer treat.

If you want to dress it up, you can add cheese, either a crumbled fresh cheese like feta or slivers of an aged cheese like aged Greek graviera or, if you can’t find that, pecorino or parmesan. For a special occasion, I like adding sliced louza, one of my favorite Greek cold cuts made of cured pork tenderloin. You can sub in some sliced prosciutto, bresaola, jamón ibérico, spicy salami or any other cold cut of your choice.

For the crust
500 gr good quality all-purpose flour
10 gr dry yeast
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
330 gr lukewarm water
2 tbsp olive oil + 2-3 tsp for oiling the bowl and dough

For the topping
3-4 tomatoes, thinly sliced
2 red onions, thinly sliced
70 ml olive oil + 30 ml for generously oiling the pan
2 tsp dried oregano (ideally wild Greek oregano since it’s so aromatic)
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

1-2 tbsp of capers or sliced kalamata olives (optional)

Step One

Sift the flour in a large bowl. Mix in the dry yeast, salt and sugar, and form a well in the center. Add in the olive oil and warm water and knead by hand until it’s all incorporated. Don’t overknead, as it will make the final result denser.

Step Two

Shape your dough into a ball, grease the bowl and dough ball with olive oil, return the dough to bowl and cover with a towel. Let it rise for about 1.5 hour until double in size. Uncover.

Step Three

Use a large baking dish (I use a 35 cm diameter – approximately 14 inch – round pan) and oil it generously. Place the dough in the dish and spread it out using your fingers until it reaches the edges. Spread out the sliced tomatoes and onions on top. Sprinkle with oregano, freshly ground pepper and sea salt.

Step Four

Drizzle the remainder of the olive oil (be generous, this is called ladenia, so it needs the olive oil!) and bake in a preheated oven at 170 C, in the middle rack, for 60-65 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with capers (or the toppings of your choice).

To convert metric measurements to U.S. and British kitchen units, click here.