Sunday afternoon at Gazi (Kerameikos ) area

Today it was a lovely sunny day in Athens. It was one of these days you really want to spend some time outdoors, to feel the sun, to wak, to drink some wine, etc etc.

Now we have the Carnival period in Greece. People dress us and go to parties.

My daughter N. had to attend such a party so she put her Japanese Kimono and went with a friend of ours and her daughter.

D.A. and I decided to go out for lunch, so we took our daugther A. and went to by subway to Gazi (it means gas in greek- I will do some research about the old gas factory which operated there in the past and post the info in the near future)

It has become a very trendy area in our days, attracting all shorts of people : clubbers during night, families Saturday and Sunday afternoons, etc.There are many trendy restaurants, cafes, tavernas..

There are new built lofts too, and many people , especially artists, architects, advertisers, buy or rent appartments (rather expensive) in Gazi area.

We went to a place called "Kanella" (it means cinnamon in greek). It is a trendy and modern tavern, serving traditional greek recipes ( usual stuff greek mothers cook at home) with a modern touch. Some plates are really spicy for kids, but the kind staff informs you so.

We had some really good eggplant salad, lentils with carrots and feta cheese, pork with mushrooms, and home made french fries.

pizzette recipe

Here I am, as I promised with the recipe of "pizzette"

Ingredients
360 gr all purpose flour
18 gr fresh yeast
200 ml warm water (not hot!)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Directions
In a large bowl mix the water, the olive oil, the yeast, sugar, and salt. Mix well till all ingredients melt
Add 200 gr of flour and mix well untill you get a smooth mixture. Cover with a towel and leave in for about 45 min at room temperature.
Add the rest 180 gr of flour and mix well using your hands, untill you dough is not sticky any more. If needed, add some more flour. Make a ball and cover it with a wet towel. Leave it in the refrigerator for 1 hr ( the most you can leave it until you are ready to use it is 24 hrs)
Divide your dough into 8 little pieces and make 8 pizzette using a pizza roler

For the filling

The are so many ideas !! Use your imagination and choose the ingredients you like most.
Here I give you the basic tomato-mozzarella recipe, a sure one to be loved!!!

tomato-mozzarella
500gr tomatoes
2 garlic gloves cut in small pieces
half onion cut in small pieces
olive oil
fresh basil leaves cut in small pieces
sugar
salt
peper
8 slices of mozzarella for pizza, or 1 fresh mozzarella , drained and thinly sliced

Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan. Add the tomatoes, garlic and onion and cook in medium heat for 3-4 min. Add the sugar and leave them to cook in slow heat for about 7 min. Add the basil leaves , season and salt

Add the tomato sauce in every piece of pizza, cover with the cheese.
Bake in preheated oven (250 o C) for about 7 min.

As I told you yesterday, you can make you own pizzette using the ingredients you prefer.
Yesterday I was in the mood to try a different flavor, so I made few potato-sausage-rosemarine- parmesan pizzette.
They were delicious!!
Here are the ingredients you neeed.
1potato cut in little pieces
half onion cut in thin slices
rosemarine
2 50 gr italian sausage
parmesan flakes
olive oil

In a sauce pan heat the olive oil. Cook the sausage and potato pieces for about 4 min. Add the onion and cook them all till the onion starts to colour. Remove them from the heat. Fill the pizzette with the potato-onion-sausage mixture, cover with parmesan cheeese, sprinkle over the rosemarine and bake as above!

Saturday evening - cooking adventures with kids

Saturday, Feb 14th 2009

Today, it was a sunny day in Athens.
After picking up N. from her English Course we walked around Kolonaki square for a while.
N. enjoyed a fresh juice and a tomato cheese and turkey baked sandwich, we bought fresh coriander for our weekend cooking games and returned home.
In the evening we made home made pizza. My kids love to cook and pizza dough is one of their favorite things to make. We decided to make pizzette so everyone of us could choose the filling.
For the kids we made the usual tomato mozzarella pizza, an easy and delicious italian recipe.
For me and DA this time I went for a new adventure, and I prepared my own recipe, a potato, onion, sausage, rosemarine and parmesan pizza!!
...Well pizzette were great!
Tommorrow I will do my best ( I am an amateur for the moment..) to post some photos and the recipe..
Thank you google for giving me the chance to create a blog
Have a super Saturday my friends!!

Vi Kay and family

First thoughts...

Saturday Feb 14th 2009

It's really exciting to finally have my own blog..
If you are wondering what or where Liston is, let me answer to it..
Liston in a trendy spot in Corfu Town, the capital of Corfu Island, Greece.
I was born there and still manage to go 3-4 times the year. In my next trip I will take some photos and post them in the Blog