features@seacoastonline.com
July 18, 2007
The menu at this year's Greek Festival at Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Portsmouth reads like ancient poetry — dolmathikia, those tangy, tender packets of rice and beef stuffed inside grape leaves; spanakopita, flaky filo-layered spinach; and all those pastries, well, some of the names might require a little help to pronounce if you didn't grow up with them. There's koulourakia, kataife and galaktobouriko, all a mouthful on a few different levels.
On July 20, 21 and 22 there will be plenty of Greek chefs on hand at the festival to help navigate not only the words but the cuisine of Greece, all the fresh ingredients from the Mediterranean, the eggplant, tomatoes and sweet dripping honey, all the dishes that so many have been working on for months.
John and Lorry Hartofelis oversaw the creation of thousands of pastries for the festival this year.
"We had a Greek and American pastry shop in Manchester where we did all scratch baking. We do the homemade cookies. It's all butter, not margarine. We made 3,500 butter twist cookies alone with the ladies," Lorry Hartofelis says.
Hartofelis says that consistency is key in making so many cookies, including the 2,000 sweet butter cookies called kourambiethes, with finely chopped almonds and powdered sugar.
"My husband does all the mixing and I set up the ovens. We have to organize the ladies and make sure the cookies are all one size. It all needs to come out the same way and you need to be sure of the product. We're very fortunate to have the older ladies to help us. There are some younger ladies, too!"
Bess Jack helps with the festival every year.
"We gathered 17 women to make the cookies and someone donated the baklava, someone the shredded cookies with filo. It's all homemade, not store bought this year and the Hartofelises came four times to watch us make it all," Jack says.
Also homemade is the moussaka, layers of eggplant, cheeses and beef with a rich bechamel sauce. This year, the dish is being made by one person.
"At our Taste of Greece Festival last year there were a few different moussakas but everyone came back to the one made by Moutoula Miminas. Everyone was crazy about it. We called her the Queen of Moussaka," Jack says.
This year Miminas, who owns Town Pizza in Kittery, Maine, where she sells Greek specialties in addition to traditional pizza, is making a whopping 50 pans of her family-recipe moussaka.
"My mother made it the way I do," says Miminas. "It's made from all good and fresh stuff — 90 percent lean beef, fresh eggplant, tomato, zucchini. It's taking me two days to make it all."
Miminas is also making the fried dough cookies called, loukoumathes,deep fried dough balls traditionally drizzled with warm honey syrup.
"But I don't use honey, I use 100 percent sugar that becomes a syrup. I've been making it for about 10 years for the festival."
Sam Jarvis, happy in retirement since New Year's Eve after decades as the owner of The Metro Restaurant in Portsmouth, is also looking forward to helping this year.
"I'm going to be working in the kitchen! I might be a prep cook. I'll help make the barbecued chicken, the lamb shanks, the skewers. It's all the foods I'm familiar with and I like the music, the dancing, the socializing. This year there's also a Greek shopping section where you can buy the Greek staple ingredients."
Pastichio with macaroni and beef, grilled loucanico sausage and grilled souvlaki with skewers of chicken will be offered as well in complete dinners all for under $11. And get ready to enjoy some new words when you ask for some of the many delicious pastries this year, all made with the love of Greece and Greek cuisine by the people who know it best.
"We enjoy making all these cookies" says Hartofelis. "The congregation is wonderful and it makes us feel good."
GO & DO
What: Greek Festival 2007
When: Friday, July 20, from 4 to 11 p.m.; Saturday, July 21, from 11 a.m., to 11 p.m.; on Sunday, July 22, from 1 to 7 p.m.
Where: On the grounds of Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church of Portsmouth, 40 Andrew Jarvis Drive
Cost: A donation of $3 per person is appreciated. Proceeds from the Greek Festival 2007 go toward the operating expenses of the church.
Contact: Contact the church office at 436-2733.
Details: A splendid variety of Greek foods will be offered and there will be music to dance to, a dance exhibition by church youth, cultural tables, church tours, souvenirs, raffles and more. Live musical entertainment will feature Ta Pethia and The Makredes Ensemble. Continuous music also provided by D.J. Meleti.
Fortune: May you have a good appetite.
No comments:
Post a Comment